Siuslaw High School cheerleading advisor Diane Conlee has a serious youth movement on her hands.

The Vikings will take five sophomores and two freshmen to Portland on Saturday for the Oregon School Activities Association's 2016 State Cheerleading Championships.

Siuslaw's 10-member team also will include two seniors and a junior.

"We're a complete team of 10, and I think we'll be competitive," Conlee said.

And they will be healthy, which is a feat in itself for a season nearly six months old.

"We've had a lot of sicknesses, like the flu virus that's gone around," Conlee said. "But we're healthy now."

All-state individual performer Victoria Rojas is one of the five sophomores, along with Tallyn Bello, Emilee Christensen, Siarrah Rain and Ariel Rosinbaum.

Four-year member Amilia Perez is one of the seniors, while transfer Meg Donohue is the other.

Filling out the team are junior Habana Ramos and freshmen McKenzie Colton and Marissa Wells.

The Vikings have a three-part routine to deliver at 9:35 a.m. Saturday, when they are the fourth of nine 4A small teams to perform for two and a half minutes at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The team will be on the road from Florence to Portland just after 4 a.m. There is a team photo scheduled for 8:05 a.m., check-in is 8:50 a.m. and practice is 8:55 a.m. prior to showtime.

That's a long day, capping a long month of qualifying, topping a long season, twice as long as any other school sport.

"People don't know how hard cheerleading really is, that commitment to practice every day," Conlee said.

Her young athletes have been there for all the other sports, they've performed at least one community event a month, worked fundraisers, and put in endless hours of practice.

And that means more than just jumping up and down, yelling "Go, Team!"

The routine they've worked to perfect incorporates the key elements of the sport, broken into three segments.

"The first piece we're showcasing is the hard things you have to do, running tumbling, team jumping, team tumbling, stunting," Conlee said. "So we're kind of showing a lot in our first piece."

The second segment is the cheer portion, which includes crowd participation.

"The last section we do a lot dancing," Conlee said.

The Vikings have showcased their routine this past month at competitions at Sheldon High School (where they finished fourth, one point out of third) and Tualatin High School, where they were fifth.

The routine must be the same for the two qualifiers and the state meet.

"Officials check that you are not in violation of safety rules," Conlee said.

The goal is to make the routine flawless for state.

"We are working on making everybody a good jumper," Conlee said. "I have three power tumblers who I use to my advantage, and two great flyers. And some really amazing dancers."

Mix in some music that works, and you're good to go.

"You take your strengths and build your routine around them," Conlee said.

"And then you hope it's something people are really proud of when it's done."

NOTES

Want to watch the cheerleaders live, but can't make it to Portland? Go to osaa.org. Click the tab that takes you to the state cheerleading page. Click on "NFHS Network, Watch games live." ...

Other 4A small schools competing include Baker, Junction City, Klamath Union, Molalla, North Marion, Scappoose, Sisters and South Umpqua. ...

Siuslaw has won four state titles, including three in a row (1991, '92 and '93) under Conlee. ...

Besides Siuslaw and South Umpqua in the 4A small ranks, the Far West League is also represented by Marshfield (large school coed) and North Bend (4A large schools). ...

"We do a really good job of trying to support each other," Conlee said of the league schools heading to state. "At competitions we sit on the mats and cheer for each other. It's kind of fun having a really strong league." ...