The No. 16 Ferris State STUNT team has had a hot start to its inaugural season with a record of 9-6 and 4-3 in the month of March.
STUNT is a competitive, female head-to-head sport that comes from cheerleading but removes the crowd-leading to focus on the technical and athletic skills. The teams perform identical, choreographed 30-second routines in four quarters, including partner stunts, pyramids/tosses, jumps/tumblings, and team performance. Then, officials score based on the execution, synchronization, and technique.
First-year head coach, Permella Harris, spoke very highly about the team she has this year.
“We are a first-year program, but we don’t look like it,” Harris said. “They have a lot of grit; they work hard. Practices are from 6-8:30 a.m. They lift right now twice a week, and they are doing absolutely amazing.”
The Bulldogs started the season hot, beating two Division 1 teams in Michigan and Northern Kentucky on Sunday, Feb. 8, in Big Rapids at Wink Arena. Ferris beat the Wolverines 22-0 before taking down Northern Kentucky 31-13 later in the day.
“We have nine wins and six losses, and the losses are very close, so it wasn’t like anyone blew us out,” Harris said. “We were staying with teams who have been around for six, seven, eight years and we’re staying with them and doing a really great job with that. Our routines are getting more and more solid, and they’re just getting more confident in what they do and how they perform.”
Ferris State ended February with a 5-3 record, with three games in that span won by ten points or more. After Northern Kentucky, the Bulldogs beat Quincy 23-9 on Feb. 15. Then on Feb. 28, Ferris State beat Southwest Baptist 12-0. Their three losses came against Trevecca Nazarene, Purdue Northwest, and Drury and were by a score of 11 points or less.
In their recent matches on Sunday, March 22, down in Ashland, Ohio, Ferris State split the matchups. In the first match, they fell to No. 10 Malone 26-17 before beating No. 24 Walsh 24-19. In the Malone match, the Bulldogs took a 5-3 lead after the first period before Malone came back to win the last three frames of the match.
Against Walsh, Ferris State again jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the opening quarter before holding onto its lead to win by five.
Freshman backspot Haniyah Cannon talked about the culture the STUNT team has.
“When it comes to the culture on our team, one thing we all have in common is genuine passion for our sport,” Cannon said. “Every morning we wake up at 5 a.m., and no matter how tired and drained we are, we know how to put in 100% effort at practice. The work ethic my teammates and I have is truly amazing, and that’s one of my favorite things about my team. We all have the same goal and want to be a better version each day we come into practice.”
Next up on the schedule for STUNT is the GLVC Championships, which is a three-day, double-elimination tournament taking place starting on Thursday, April 2, and going to Saturday, April 4 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield, Missouri, on the campus of Drury University.
The championship match is currently slated to start at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Eight teams will be there, including host Drury, Ferris State, and Purdue Northwest.