The Sader Belles are the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor dance team, but right now they are going by a different name — national champions.
The eight-member squad traveled to Orlando earlier this month to take on NCAA Division III’s elite dance squads in the College Classic. Following a second-place ranking after semifinals, the group made adjustments and practiced almost non-stop to learn them. The hard work paid off — UMHB was awarded top honors in the pom competition.
“This was much more difficult than I thought it would be,” said Christy Hawkins, a Killeen ISD teacher who has doubled as head of the Sader Belles for the past nine years. “I knew we would go and do well, but it was a lot of work. We practiced every day from spring break until the competition with the exception of Easter weekend. They were champs through it all.”
The team competed in both pom and jazz divisions, and their first performance in pom came Friday morning. The team was ranked second going into Saturday’s finals.
“We had to make some changes in our routine in order to improve,” Hawkins said. “The team stayed 100 percent focused and we raised our score by five points — that was good enough to win.”
The Sader Belles also captured fourth place in jazz.
“We have been growing our program, and we are ready for this,” Carissa Arnold, a sophomore from League City, said prior to the contest. “It’s time for UMHB to step out and face the challenge.”
The team did just that.
Last month, UMHB competed in the American Dance & Drill Team competition at the University of North Texas in Denton. Hawkins said that experience was a tune up of sorts for the big show in Florida
“We’ve won the American multiple times,” she said. “It’s more of a recruitment vehicle. There are a lot of middle school and high school teams there, plus several D-III colleges. We set up a booth and handed out information about UMHB and the Sader Belles to young athletes and their parents. We did very well in that competition.”
When not in competition season, the Sader Belles perform at Crusader football and basketball games. Several of the team members, such as Arnold and Belton native Emma Sturdivant, aspire to be professional cheerleaders with the Houston Texans and Dallas Mavericks, respectively
The 2023-24 Sader Belles team members are Arnold; Sturdivant, a senior captain; Isabella Pena, a senior; sophomores Brooke Bumpass and Jordan McBee; and freshmen Kendall Bickerdike, Gabrielle Rockford, Serena Ylostalo and Carissa Rollmanm, team manager.
