Cheer Team: Warriors bring home gold again

State winning cheer team is welcomed home. — People gather to welcome home the Brainerd Warrior cheer team near the Brainerd High School on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, after defending their state title.

By Dispatch staff report

January 29, 2023 at 7:50 PM

ST. PAUL — The repeat is complete.

The Brainerd Warrior cheer team made it back-to-back state titles after it defended its varsity co-ed, non-tumble title Saturday, Jan. 28, at Roy Wilkins Auditorium.

Brainerd bettered six teams in its division. Of those seven, only four advanced to the finals.

Friends and family hold signs and balloons to welcome home the cheer team. — Friends and family hold signs and balloons to welcome home the Brainerd Warrior cheer team near the Brainerd High School on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, after defending their state title.

“We knew we needed to go out and have a clean energized performance,” Brainerd head coach Carissa Ulness said. “During the prelims, we had a great performance but ended up in second place being 3.8 points away from first. Once we learned we were advancing to finals we knew we needed to take time to clean up our routine and prepare to increase our score.”

The Warriors were joined by Coon Rapids, Delano and Anoka in the finals. That’s where Brainerd shined with zero deductions.

“The changes we made for the final performance allowed us to win by over six points,” Ulness said.”I am extremely proud of these athletes for fighting hard till the end.”

Brainerd’s game day team placed sixth out of 15 teams. The game day division didn’t have a finals round so each team only competed once.

“They had an amazing performance,” Ulness said.

Friday night prior to the state meet, the Brainerd Warriors won the Minnesota Cheerleading Coaches Association Leadership Award. The award is presented to the team who displays leadership within their school and community. Brody Schultz was recognized for being part of the MCCA All-State Competitive Team and Raegan Roberts for the All-State Sideline Team.

This year’s Brainerd Warriors coed team were Abby Schuler, Elizabeth Knutson, Camren Cooper, Brody Schultz, Raegen Roberts, Raegan Hoge-Twardy, Indigo Ellstrom-Stevens, Mya Schneider, Isabell Bednarek, Danica Frazier and Brenna Padgette.

Brainerd’s game day squad is Schuler, Knutson, Cooper, Schultz, Roberts, Hoge-Twardy, Ellstrom-Stevens, Schneider, Bednarek, Frazier, Savannah Boring, Sidney Wahlstrom and Padgette.

Brainerd’s junior varsity non-tumble team, which placed second behind East Ridge White, is Wahlstrom, Taelyn Borchers, Cadence Dominquez, Boring, Ethan Roberts, Caylee LeTourneau, Bella Howard and Joslyn Niesen.

Brainerd’s coaching staff is Carissa Ulness, Kassii Daiker, Zach Capistrant and Kaitlynn Capistrant.

By Dispatch staff report

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Cheer Team: Warriors bring home gold again

The Brainerd Warriors also won the Minnesota Cheerleading Coaches Association Leadership Award.