Around this time last year, senior Tori Mayard and Team Stunts and Gymnastics head coach Felecia Mulkey were sitting in McArthur Court with a vision.
That vision came true this past Sunday when the squad performed for the first time in front of more than 8,000 fans during halftime of the men’s basketball game.
They displayed their team routine, one of several different elements that go into an actual competition, and gave the Duck faithful a little taste of what to expect over the course of the season.
“It’s really surreal,” Mayard explained. “Because last year we went to the Civil War and we planned out where we’re going to perform, what the students were going to do, what the crowd was going to do and all the cool stuff. And it happened.”
The halftime performance came more than a month after the team’s first competition held in Daly City, Calif., on Dec. 5. Oregon took on a Bay Area all-star gym squad, with athletes from several surrounding schools in the area.
“I thought they did really well,” Mulkey said. “I was impressed for our first meet.”
Mulkey went on to say that while her team didn’t have any falls, they did have several bobbles. Those bobbles ultimately cost the Ducks a 15.1 point deduction in the their final score, but were still able to get the victory with a 284.9 to 264.6 final tally.
“We didn’t go out and represent Oregon exactly the way we wanted to,” Mulkey said. “But at the same time — first meet, first team ever at the University of Oregon and we brought home the win.”
During their time in the Bay Area, the team also fielded several questions from interested high school athletes, showing promise for the up-and-coming sport of Team Stunts and Gymnastics.
“It was a good experience,” Mayard said. “We got to show basically the cheerleading world what competitive cheer is really about without the skirts and without the bows and yelling.”
This weekend, the Ducks will be heading north for the Pac-West Apple Cup Regional Championship in Tacoma, Wash. The meet will be similarly structured to the one in Daly City and will serve as the final tune-up before the heart of the season begins. The month of February is when Oregon will really have to be in top form, taking on some of the top teams in the country during the stretch.
“I personally can’t wait for them to see another competitive school,” Mulkey said. “I can’t wait to meet up with Maryland and in Atlanta in February, because I know when we come back from there you’re going to see a totally different team.”
With 12 freshmen on the roster, there was the initial question of how they would react to the adjustment of collegiate competition, but Mayard says they’ve improved tremendously over the year.
“The thing I’ve seen change the most is the freshmen,” she said. “Their mindset is way stronger than they were coming in to this.”
Mayard and Mulkey both deemed freshman Brittany Hart as the biggest surprise among the team so far, saying that anything she’s asked to do she’ll not only “hit it right, she’ll hit it strong.”
Hart says the transition was one of gaining personal confidence and coming into her own.
“At the beginning, I definitely started out a little bit lower than I thought I was going to be,” Hart said. “I was a little nervous, but once I got to know everybody, I stepped out of my shell more and got kind of confident in myself, so I was able to come out and prove to (coach Mulkey) what she wanted me to show.”
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