Vikings' coach Straley is proud of her team


Gillian Norton, Destiny Teel, Arrianna Brown, co-captains Brooke Olson and Adria Sandusky, Maddie Petterson and Sydney Hilterbrant.

Siuslaw Vikings cheerleading coach Teri Straley returned to school Tuesday, proud of her team's performance this past weekend at the state championships in Portland.

"State went well," the first-year coach said via email. "Despite having a rough morning of getting ready and finding the parking of the (Veterans Memorial) Coliseum.

"The team did great on the floor with all the changes that were made that week. They each stepped up and covered the changes well and worked hard. We won eighth place out of ten schools and have even improved our scores a little bit since last year.

"I'm proud of what the team accomplished this year, and I look forward to making changes for next year that can only make this team stronger.

"We are not going to the OCCA Championships like we thought. After spending some time thinking, I decided that with so many of them starting spring sports soon, some next week, that it would be best to give them a little bit of a break before they start their next sport."

Cheerleading has one of the longer seasons during the school year, with the student-athletes' first day of practice the same day as the band, choir, cross country, football, soccer and volleyball teams.

State choir championships are May 9 and state band championships May 14, both in Corvallis.

First day of practice for the 2020-21 school year is Monday, Aug. 17.

None of the Vikings cheerleaders is a senior, so Straley should have a solid core returning.