Butler Cheer practices before heading off to their third consecutive national competition. Photo by Ben Holmes.

JULIA LORELLI | STAFF REPORTER | jlorelli@butler.edu

Butler Cheer became a competitive team in 2018 and has quickly made a name for itself. The Dawgs have made nationals each of the past two years and will continue their streak this year. 

The Butler cheerleaders are excited to get back to Nationals and to try to place first in its categories; Small Coed Gameday and Small Coed Traditional where they placed second and third respectively last year. 

Coach Brenda Jamerson came to Butler in 2018 to be the first coach to train the Dawgs’ competitive team after coaching at Ball State for four years. Jamerson has been a Bulldog fan for years.

“I’ve always been a big Butler supporter [because of] my family,” Jamerson said. “My son played baseball here. Prior to that, I saw an opportunity to come over and see what I could do here. I love the tradition here.”

Jamerson is eager to show other colleges how far her team has come and what they can accomplish on the stage. 

“[Nationals is] an opportunity to win something, to go out there and show 200-plus colleges what you do,” Jamerson said. “[At nationals], the traditional routine is more performance [based], they get to do things that normally they wouldn’t get to do.”

The team is most excited to go up against the University of Delaware because the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly took first place over the Bulldogs last year at nationals.

Graduate cheerleader Kellen Newman is looking forward to competing in his last national tournament and wants to avenge the Dawgs by taking the title of champions away from Delaware. 

“[Delaware has] an extreme reputation in the game day cheer community,” Newman said. “We’re kind of looking and hoping to beat them [because] it may be their last time in our division, and if they’re not in our division next year, the win may not mean as much. We want to dethrone them.”

Senior cheerleader Karin Johnson is ready for revenge against Delaware as she did not agree with the judges’ scoring of the Bulldogs.

“[Delaware] only beat us by [a small margin] last year,” Johnson said. “I was a little suspicious about that scoring but we’re definitely excited to compete against them. I think we’ll get the gold for gameday and then at least place for traditional.

The team is excited to compete against Delaware, especially Jamerson because she wants to show how much her team has improved since her first year. Although it is late in the season, everyone is still learning and making adjustments to make the team the best it can be. 

“There’s a lot of factors for us and we’re all learning how to adjust and build up the [first-years],” Newman said. “[This way] they have the same level of energy, the same level of determination that we did last year.” 

As a part of the first competitive Bulldog cheerleading team, Johnson has seen the improvement of Butler cheer firsthand. She is eager to join her teammates and show their opponents how much the Bulldogs have improved since her first year. 

“We made a lot of [small] mistakes [my] first year,” Johnson said. “[My] second year, we worked more as a team and I think that kind of brought us together.”

Johnson hopes to add national champion cheerleader to her resume before she heads off to law school. Her last year as a Bulldog is bringing up some mixed emotions.

“I’m really excited for my last year,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a little bit bittersweet and sad. I’m a really competitive person and love competing for anything.”

While the cheer squad is losing its seniors to jobs and graduate schools, there is always the next class to carry on the excellence of the cheering Bulldogs. Newman is eager for the future of Butler Cheer.

“It’s been very awesome to see how recruitment has gone,” Newman said. “I’m very excited to see how the program [will continue].”