Cheer Head Coach: Emilie Ashenbach (5th year at CUNE; 1st year as head coach)
2023 GPAC/NAIA Qualifier Finish: 3rd/8
2023 Average Comp Score: 77.80 (26th in NAIA)
2023 Cheer All-GPAC: Shelby Timmerman (HM).
Outlook
The 10th competition season in the history of Concordia University Competitive Cheer will come with a new dynamic as Emilie Ashenbach becomes the head coach while continuing to work alongside Competitive Spirit Coordinator Mandi Maser. The Bulldogs have improved progressively during Ashenbach’s previous four seasons assisting both the cheer and dance programs. Considering the cheer program returns 10 of the 12 athletes who competed at the 2023 GPAC Championships, Concordia appears positioned to continue in an upward trajectory.
In her own athletic career, Ashenbach earned All-America recognition while competing in cheer at Midland. There will be a minor adjustment phase despite the new role for Ashenbach. There’s a lot of familiarity inside the program as plenty of veterans returned to campus for preseason preparation prior to the beginning of the second semester.
Ashenbach says that very little will change leading up to the first competition of 2024. “I'm enthusiastic about guiding each team member to unlock their full potential,” Ashebach said. “We have a lot of talent on this team and with tailored coaching and support, I aim to help them not only excel as student-athletes but also grow as individuals, building skills and confidence that extends beyond the cheerleading mat.”
The aim in 2024 is to build upon a 2023 season that saw the Bulldogs place third in the GPAC while averaging a competition score of 77.80, marking the top average in the program’s history to date. The ’23 team also set a new school record when it achieved a score of 83.63 in the finals of the GPAC Championships last February. Other highlights from last season included the Concordia Invitational Tournament at home and a fourth place finish out of 15 squads at the York University Invite. The Bulldogs narrowly came up short at CIT while placing second.
The large group of returners is headlined by two-time All-GPAC performer Shelby Timmerman, a senior from Clatonia, Neb. Timmerman has played an integral role in the program’s rise in recent years. As Timmerman points out, this year’s squad is made up solely of women. The graduation of Brenden Ingram means some level of adjustment will be necessary.
“It’s different year to year because you have new people come in who are freshmen – and we have some transfers this year,” Timmerman said. “The thing for this year is we’re all girls. We don’t have any boys. It’s a different dynamic trying to figure out how we all work together.”
The class of fourth-year Bulldogs, in addition to Timmerman, includes Kaitlyn Foley, Victoria Perry and Elizabeth Schultz. They were joined on the GPAC Championships competition roster by LaCole Anno, Lexi Mack, Ara Maxwell, Bre Romero, Lauryn Stanley and Katie Wilson. Talent was added with a class of nine freshmen who arrived at Concordia in the fall.
A Lincoln Northeast High School graduate, Foley says that the preseason has centered upon mastering the basics. Foley and her teammates can point back to exactly when things began to come together last season. Those incremental steps provide confidence heading into 2024.
“I think my favorite part of last season was when we hit our pyramid,” Foley said. “We hit all of our stunts and hit our pyramid. That was something we were focusing on and had a lot of troubles with in the first competition. Once we hit our pyramid, everything just kind of clicked. We just continued to do that every competition.”
Both Foley and Timmerman expressed genuine excitement for Ashenbach and the opportunity she has to serve as head coach. Said Timmerman of Ashenbach, “She knows us in and out – what we’re good at and things we might not be the best at. She puts us all in spots where we can do great. That’s what makes the routine and the whole team do so well. She can play off our strengths. She’s an overall great person and she knows us on a personal level that’s not just cheer related. She gets to know us individually and that’s huge.”
Ashenbach and the team have come up with a theme of #212 for this season. The number “212” is the temperature at which water turns into steam – and steam powers a locomotive. Ashenbach reasons that “the more consistently you apply the heat, the faster you will reach and maintain 212.” From a tangible goal perspective, the Bulldogs are thinking big. They want to make a run at a national championships berth. Talk about turning up the heat.
“We are focusing on clean technique because with clean technique comes clean cheerleading and that is what makes the sidelines look professional and our judges on the competitive side happy,” Ashenbach said. “We have also been working on the mindset of scores and not placements. We could get great exciting placings all season, and that's something to celebrate, but if our scores aren't high enough, our average won't be high enough to be in the running for nationals.”
Ashenbach says the team has been working on a “sassy competitive routine” for this season. As Foley explained, the routine that spectators see will grow increasingly difficult as the season wears on.
Says Foley, “We focus on one thing at a time in practice. Let’s say one competition we have a certain stunt and we hit that. Then we add something else and it’s more difficult. We keep going by competition so that at the end, it’s the best routine we can do.”
The first official competition of the 2024 season is slated for Jan. 20 in conjunction with home basketball on that date. Home cheer competitions (when paired with basketball) take place inside the PE Center Gym. CIT will be hosted by Concordia University Wisconsin later this month and the Bulldogs will host their annual day of duals in February. The GPAC Championships are set for March 9 in Crete, Neb. The complete schedule can be found HERE.