2017 Hall of Fame: ’07 cheer squad made school, SD history as program’s inaugural champs

“It would be great to be the first state champions in cheerleading, but we have our work cut out for us.”

Diane Gilbertz, head coach of Brandon Valley’s very first SDHSAA-sanctioned competitive cheer team, shared those thoughts in a 2007 pre-season Brandon Valley Challenger report.

As it turned out, Gilbertz and company did just that by bringing home the sport’s very first Eastern South Dakota Conference and State AA titles.

“It’s been one of many firsts being the first team to win ESD and the first cheer team to not only win their division, but to be the first top cheer team in the state,” quoted Gilbertz following the team’s state title win.

The latter honor earned the Lady Lynx competitive cheer team the opportunity to perform at halftime of the state AA football game at the University of South Dakota’s DakotaDome later that same night.

Gilbertz went on to boast: “I am so proud of these young ladies. These girls have every right to be as excited and pumped as they are. These competitions have not been a given that we would come out on top, but their hard work and dedication paid off. We practice just as long and as hard as the football team does, but the football team has 48 minutes to prepare for victory; we have 2 ½ minutes.”

Gilbertz built the award-winning team by “upping their game” that season.

“We have more tumblers than ever before, and our routine is packed full of things going on at all times. There’s so much happening, you don’t even know what to watch,” she said in the pre-season media report.

Throughout the season, the Lynx found themselves in a “cat fight” with the Brookings Bobcats. The two teams traded wins through the week-to-week competitions, but it was the Lady Lynx who ultimately clawed out the nip-and-tuck 260-257 state victory.

“It was definitely a ‘cat” fight,’ ” Gilbertz recalls 10 years later. “Early in the season Brookings beat us in the first three competitions. We had safety deductions that cost us the win, but it was better to have them earlier in the season. The girls were disappointed but yet determined to make changes, and I kept telling the girls, ‘It’s easier becoming number one than remaining number one.’ ”

The rest was history, the coach says.

The Lady Lynx took the top prize of their last four meets of the season, which included the inaugural top prizes – the ESD Championship and the first-ever South Dakota State Competitive Cheerleading Championship.

Alexa Sorenson, a BVHS junior on the team, summed it up best: “It’s come down to Brookings and Brandon Valley all year, and it came down to us one last time!”

“It’s exciting, it’s amazing! I was a little nervous – everybody was nervous – but we pulled it off,” Melissa Bendixen, a sophomore member of the squad, shared following the team’s title win. 

“I’m still in shock – again,” Gilbertz said that day. “I could not have asked for more from these girls. Each one knew they were a key person to the success of our routine and brought to the floor their best performance.”

Tonight, 24 of the 26-member squad have gathered to relive that magical moment on a Saturday afternoon in Yankton. And that comes as no surprise to Gilbertz, who remembers her squad as “a unified team full of life, energy and dedication.”

The team’s “unification” that season, she said, spilled over from the cheer mat and into a supportive community.

“We had so much fun in and out of cheer from painting pumpkins for the assisted living residents, putting puzzles together at practice to show how we all had a part (each contributing a talent to the team) but yet were a part of this one team,” she said. “And I am still honored to have coached and shared the experiences of that inaugural sanctioned competitive cheer season with each and everyone of these girls.”

On behalf of the team, Gilbertz describes tonight’s induction into the BVHS Hall of Fame as “icing on the cake.”

“These girls as well as I feel so honored and proud to be inducted into BVHS’s Hall of Fame. One of our team members said that after 2007 being a year of firsts, this is just icing on the cake!” 

MOMENTS REMEMBERED

Coach Diane Gilbertz was asked what she most remembered about the Saturday afternoon in Yankton, where the Lady Lynx captured the state title.

* “I remember the entire team was confident and relaxed but yet a nervous excitement was present in the warm-up gym. We were prepared, we knew what we had to do, and we were ready. I told the girls, ‘This is it! Leave everything on the floor. Let’s not ask ourselves what might have been.’ ”

* “I remember having to have Brittney Roby press the play button for the actual performance as I was shaking.”

* “I remember watching an incredible performance from these girls, and seeing them hold nothing back.” 

* “I remember watching them leave the performance floor with smiles knowing they had given it their all.” 

* “I remember feeling I could not have been any prouder of these girls at that moment. Win or lose, they were number one in my heart!”

* “I remember the wonderful following of fans we had there that day, especially the parents. Their support boosted the girls’ energy and made it so much easier for them to show their enthusiasm while they performed.”          

* “I remember Ruth Rehn, the SDHSAA director, coming over and telling me we were the state champs and wanting to know if we would be able to perform in the Dome at halftime of the AA state football championships later that evening. I said, ‘Yes,’ and it was all I could do to contain myself from telling my girls.”

* “I remember celebrating at JoDean’s Restaurant before heading to the Dome. 

* And, I remember the girls and I discussing on the bus a 10-year reunion, and here we are!