By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

The latest competitive cheer meet seemed to be the roughest for the Dell Rapids competitive cheer squad.
In Watertown on Oct. 13, the Quarriers were the first to do their routine.
However, the sound system was not working and no one seemed to know what was going on, according to Coach Magen Richeal.
“It threw off the flow of the routine,” she said. “The judges didn’t realize the problem with the sound system and that could have negatively affected our score.”
Dell Rapids won the Class A and B division but had its lowest point total ever with 193 points. Lake Preston was second with 151 points and St. Thomas More was third with 149 points.
At one point, the Quarriers were deducted 10 points for going over the time allotted, but was given the points back after the judges realized the problem with the sound system.
Despite the rough start, Richeal said the girls did well. “They maintained pretty well despite the difficulty that was completely out of their control,” she said.
A week earlier, Dell Rapids finished fourth overall in a 15-team competition at Brandon.
Watertown won the meet with 209 points, Sioux Falls Washington was second with 207, Brookings was third with 196 points and the Quarriers ended the day with 176 points.
Of the top eight scores, Dell Rapids was the only team that was a small squad.
“We’re doing fantastic,” Richeal said. “We are actually ranking up there with all the large squads. It shows how good we are doing in order to make up that difference in the number of girls.”
Dell Rapids finally at its full complement of 10 girls for the meet, but the majority of the schools participating had 20 or more competing.
“Our strongest area is that our routines are clean,” Richeal said.
“What that means is that when we do a stunt, there are no faults. Everyone is on the same track and doing it right.”
With the increased numbers of Quarriers competing, Richeal has been able to up the difficulty of the stunts. Recently, the girls are increasing the difficulty in their jumping routine.
“When they handed out the score sheets, our jumping scored higher than any other school,” she said.
“This means our jumps are the best. The girls have been consistent all year.”
Dell Rapids has one more competitive cheer meet at Sioux Falls Lincoln on Oct. 29 before the state tournament in Brandon on Nov. 7.