Salukis shake the competition

Daily Egyptian

As the Saluki Shakers departed Carbondale for the Indianapolis International Airport, all but one of the 18 women were ready for the 2005 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Competition.

Kari Nichols, a freshman studying elementary education from Murphysboro, had never been in an airport, let alone flown on an airplane before.

But Nichols had to muster up the courage to step onto the plane because the Shakers were flying to Orlando, Fla., for the Annual College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship, where they finished in 8th place.

"The plane was really small, and it made me even more nervous when the plane took off," Nichols said.

Before the flight, the Shakers had to submit a video of their routine to be considered for the competition. The team didn't find out until October that they made the cut.

"It made all the hard work pay off," said Kirsten Propst, co-captain of the Shakers.

The Jan. 15th competition, which took place at Disney World, was the semi-finals. The finals followed the next day.

Beginning at 8 a.m. the first day of the competition, the Shakers had to put their game faces on and prepare for the semi-finals. After learning the Shakers had advanced to finals, the team had no time to celebrate because they had to be up at 5 a.m. for the final performances the next morning.

After a two-hour break with a hair and make-up change at 11 a.m., they were back for their final routine of the competition at 1 p.m.

After hours of preparation on their appearances, the Shakers spent less than three minutes in front of the judges.

"I always watched it on ESPN, and it's a completely different experience being able to be down there and dance on the floor," Nichols said.

Sitting through the long flight, practicing four days a week during school and over the break finally paid off when they were invited back for the finals. The Shakers had been turned down three times before.

Making the finals has already set off a ripple effect for the team, said Shaker adviser Tawmi Conley. A few days after returning from Orlando, Conley had six e-mails from local high school seniors expressing interest in joining the Shakers.

"A lot of high school dancers, they look on the [Universal Dance Association] Web site, and they look at the teams that advanced to the finals," Conley said.