South Salem’s varsity cheer team groups together with OSAA’s state champion sign at the 2026 OSAA Cheer State Championships, hosted at Oregon City High. Photo provided by Emerson Bay, ’27.
“I think our competitors, who did incredible, didn’t have our enthusiasm. We all wanted it so badly especially since we placed dead last in 2025. As a program, we all had something to prove to ourselves. Gameday [their competition category] is mostly about energy and our team has some of the happiest, loudest people I’ve ever met. I think that gave us the edge over them all, as well as our amazing choreo,” Emerson Bay, ‘27, a varsity cheerleader, said.
With a year to rebuild and outline priorities, South Salem’s cheer program returned to OSAA’s 6A State Championships with lofty goals. Under the guidance of new head coach Michelle Damarest, the squad wanted more than an experience at state — they wanted to win. And in this year’s Gameday Cheer competition, they did. With a 0.5 point win over the 16-team field, South Salem won the 6A title, the first ever in program history.
This year the OSAA divided the Gameday competition into smaller divisions, splitting up the 5A and 6A classifications. This moved last year’s 6A/5A game day champion, Central High, out of South’s category. The previous 6A/5A category had 26 total teams, and is now split into 16 and 10-team divisions, respectively. Looking at scores across all classifications this year, South Salem had the third highest score in OSAA Gameday competition. So regardless of category, South would have had their first-ever podium finish.
Changes at the Top
Placing last at the previous state championships, the program knew they had to make harsh, at-the-top adjustments. It would be, and eventually was, key to facilitate their success this season. Aside from announcing Damarest’s promotion to be the squad’s new head coach, they brought on Christa Martin to assist. Both coaches have previous coaching experience, with Damarest spending eight years as an assistant coach with South Salem. Outside of her South Salem experience, Damarest has head coached for both All-Star (Club) and YMCA Cheer.
“I started off teaching gymnastics and cheerleading with the YMCA in California and then I transferred up here. I was the head gymnastics and cheerleading coach for the Monmouth, Independence and Salem YMCA’s; I did youth for many years. Then I got into doing a couple all star gyms and coached with them for about four years,” Damarest said in an October 2025 interview with The Clypian.
While some athletes may struggle with coaching transitions, South’s program immediately flourished under new leadership, especially from the perspective of co-team captain Adell Bushman, ‘26. Bushman credits South’s state win partly to the coaching staff pouring into the athletes and their resources.
“They wasted no time taking full charge with the team. They provided us with more coaching staff, as well as new equipment, uniforms and overall expectations and standards. These changes reform the recognition of our athletes, they portray us as true competitors with strong athletic abilities. It opposes the perspective that we are simply sideline cheerleaders,” Bushman said.
Strengths of Sideline Cheer
Without a doubt, the competition portion of the cheerleading season is the most anticipated. It’s full of adrenaline and the possibility of reigning supreme. But before it can happen, the girls have their sideline season. This is the portion of their sport where they cheer on the field/court for sports like football and basketball. They travel with the sports teams, performing chants and stunts in the bleachers.
And though Bushman drives hard on the idea that her squad is capable of more than just sideline cheering, she found that it actually prepares the girls the most for the heavy demands of competition. Especially those of a gameday routine.
“Sideline is always the best experience and atmosphere, especially when students show school spirit and get involved. It’s always so fun to hear the students’ section cheering back with us. Sideline forces you to project, and stay sharp. That energy transfers straight into the competition season. The stamina we build from cheering full games helps us push through a two-three minute routine without dying halfway through. It also strengthens crowd-leading skills, facials, confidence and timing which makes our performance quality way stronger on the competition floor,” Bushman said.
Throughout the longer, consistent sideline season the squad spends quality time together. With the mutli-hour practices, long weekends traveling different cities and general teenagehood, these girls become tight-knit, forming their own family in a sense.
“The team dynamic is everything, I trust these girls with my life. I love the team so much and we have become so close through hours of hard work. Cheer plays a huge role in my life, especially as a multi-season sport,” Bay said.
The emotional and physical chemistry these girls have with one another is critical for competition season, and it ultimately was to win their title.
The Ins and Outs of this Year’s State Comp.
At state, there are two categories to compete in, either traditional or gameday. Typically South competes in the gameday category, which is judged more off of athlete-to-crowd connection rather than technical skills. Broken into four criterions, judges rate gameday performances off of a team’s band dance, situational performance, crowd chant and the fight song.
The band dance, the first part of the team’s performance, is a short routine performed to an up-beat (typically pop music) song. Then they act out a situational cheer, which is based on a prompt a judge reads off to them. When the judge reads off the prompt, it’s based on whether the sports team they cheer for is in the offensive or defensive position. After that, the girls perform a chant of their choice, and they follow that up with their school’s fight song.
High Emotions, Higher Awards
Competing under intense pressure with judges watching and live-critiquing performances, athletes have to appear confident, proving they deserve the first-place honor. But after months of practice and preparation, not to mention their current situation, their emotions are high and drive them through their performance. Bay described the state competition as incomparable, speaking to the team’s flux of emotions.
“After we performed we got our score sheet back and we saw we had a three point deduction and were crushed. We thought we wouldn’t even place fifth overall. During awards we were super anxious because we all assumed we were done for. So when they called our name at first it was the best feeling ever. It was like an underdog movie, we were screaming and crying in joy,” Bay said.
Championing a new era of Saxon cheer, this state title was the first in program history. And with their slim winning margin over Grants Pass High School, cheer co-captain Ciana Wisser, ‘26, found clarity in their win.
Becoming a state champion means all the early mornings, bruises, tears, conditioning, and sacrifices were worth it. It’s not just a title, it’s proof of growth. Proof of our hard work. Everything was worth it. South cheer isn’t just a sport to me, it’s family. It’s where I’ve grown the most as a person — mentally tough, disciplined, confident. Cheer taught me how to push through hard things and trust people fully. It’s more than holding poms on a sideline. It’s representing something bigger than myself,
Wisser said.
Foresight to a Title Repeat
Next year’s season puts Damarest’s program re-vamp to the test, as her program graduates seven seniors this year. Losing almost half of their competition squad (seven out of 17), any ambitions of a next year title repeat lies in the current juniors. But, believing in the bond among herself and the girls, Bay feels the program has potential to remain a 6A powerhouse.
“While losing the seniors is hard, and the thought of it makes me cry, I am excited to return next year. While it could be hard to rebuild, I plan to hold the team and myself accountable, not allowing us to give up. We won the title once, so I know we can win it again. We will have to fight even harder for it next year, but it’ll be worth it to feel that champion feeling again,” Bay said.
