Carthage College home athletic events have always incorporated a bit of showmanship. In the 1960's, the old Carthage Physical Education Center featured a movie theatre-type organ at one end of the gym. Football games in the early 1970's often had a horse and rider.
 
In more-recent times, the college has done a lot to improve the showmanship at its home games. The first big step was the 2001 opening of the Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center with its state-of-the-art sound and light system. The renovation of Art Keller Field in 2011, with all-new seating and a new press box, was another big step forward.
 
Along with the physical improvements, the college has made a significant investment in its game-day activities, like cheerleading, dance, tumblers and twirlers.
 

Former athletic director Bob Bonn hired Amy Malczewski in 2001 to serve as Carthage's first spirit team coach. Malczewski was a high school cheerleader and went on to serve as a member and a captain for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse pom poms team between 1993 and 1996. She was the founder and director of the Starlightz youth dance team in Racine, Wis., from 1997 to 2000 and filled the same role for the Gladiators youth team, also in Racine, from 2009 to 2013. Malczewski is a member of both the National Dance Council of America and the Wisconsin Association of Cheer/Pom Coaches. She is currently a Carthage adjunct professors for communications and digital media.
 
When Malczewski was hired, the Carthage dance team was combined with the cheerleading team and the mascot to form the Carthage spirit team. A twirl team was added in 2018, and in 2021, the spirit team expanded to include 22 dancers, 21 cheerleaders, six twirlers (both baton and flag) and tumblers.
 
"Until a couple of years ago," points out Malczewski, "we had the dance team performing with the pep band at home games. Now we have about 50 people who cover the entire sideline, instead of 12 that we had two years ago. We do a pre-game show and a halftime show with a lot more cheerleading than we did in the past, along with spinning and twirling and tumbling. It's a spectacle. It's an event."

 
Because of COVID-19, the spirit team had almost no opportunity to perform during the 2020-21 school year. "Last year was challenging," admits Malczewski, "and we probably could have just not had a season, but we had regular practices. I created videos of our practices and shared those on social media. I think that attracted a lot of interest among incoming freshmen, because we had our largest tryout ever last May with over 80 participants."
 
"I think this year's freshmen class really wanted to be involved in something," says Malczewski, "since they spent their senior year in high school not being able to do the things that they loved. They want to show that they love their school, and that's part of our job to give them that chance. That demand led to us creating more opportunities on our team, because we want to have as many people involved as we can. We doubled the size of the cheer team and we added positions for more baton and flag twirlers."
 
"Most of our team members were either high school cheerleaders, twirlers, color guard or part of a dance studio," says Malczewski, "so almost all of them have some experience and background. That's been a big change in the past 20 years, in that we used to have people try out with no experience, who just wanted to be involved. Until a few years ago, we had people wanting to be involved with the team who had high school cheer experience, but we didn't have a cheer team. Now we can get more people involved. I think when students are vested in something, they get more out of their college experience."
 
Athletic director Nate Stewart has also added a bunch of plastic blow-ups in the football end zone that's been dubbed the "kid zone." "We work with the kids in that area during pre-game," says Malczewski, "and that's fun. We do more at halftime than we used to, because we have more people and more sub-teams. There's more going on, there's more to look at, and it's louder. Our dance team never wanted to yell. I don't know why that it is, but now we have a real cheerleading team, and they love to yell."

Julie Maher, a Carthage nursing professor, is the assistant coach for cheerleaders. Maher was a member of the cheerleading team at Triton College, coached locally at both the elementary and high school level and is certified by USA Cheer.

Stephanie Van Wieringen, '18, is the dance team technical coach. She's a Carthage graduate and a former dance team member. "Stephanie minored in dance at Carthage," points out Malczewski, "and she's a great asset to have." 
 
Each unit of the team has a different practice routine, but a typical practice runs about two hours, three times a week. Each practice includes a good stretch warm-up to prevent injuries, and then the team runs through routines that members teach each other. The cheerleading team has an outside company come in on Fridays to work on their tumbling routines, which have a gymnastics element.
 
Emily Barrera, '20, the team's twirl technical coach is a Carthage graduate and former twirl team member.  She was also a member of Razzle Dazzle, a twirl team in Kenosha. "I feel like our spirit program is one of the best around," says Malczewski. "We not only have all the teams, but they all perform well, because we put in the time during practice."

 
"We go to summer camp together at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells," says Malczewski. "The dance team has been going for 15 years, but this past summer, the cheer team also went. It's the largest spirit summer camp in the nation. All the large schools are there, and the Big 10 schools are all well-represented. We get to work right next to schools like the University of Michigan, the University of Tennessee, Oklahoma, and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. We're just this little school in Wisconsin that nobody has heard about. We won several awards this past summer, and I think we stack up very well with those big schools. With our now-larger dance team, we compete directly with those schools, since it's based on the number of participants, not the size of the school."
 
For the first few years, the spirit team participated in competitive cheerleading meets. "We don't do competitive meets anymore," points out Malczewski. "Our team members love what they do, but they have other interests, both on and off campus. Doing competition requires a lot more time and a lot more of a commitment."
 
Besides the school spirit, Malczewski sees her team as a good marketing tool for the college. "We do a lot of off-campus events like festivals and 5K races, and when our team goes off-campus, we always wear our Carthage gear. We do youth clinics where we teach a few routines and dance together. That's my favorite event. We haven't been able to do one since 2019, but I look forward to resuming those. The little kids just love it. I've been doing this for 21 years, and I just love everything about it."
 
Carthage Spirit Team

Cheerleaders
Name	Hometown
Mariah Bader	Shell Lake, Wis.
Gala Contreras
Riley Conway	Antioch, Ill.
Libby Ferraro
Lauren Fleming	Kenosha, Wis.
Gabby Garnowski	Arlington Heights, Ill.
Michelle Gorak	Morton Grove, Ill.
Payton Krogh	Racine, Wis.
Abigail Lingenfelter	Hudson, Wis.
Kate Loebel	Milwaukee, Wis.
Taylor Loftis	Muskego, Wis.
Caitlin Malecki	Franklin, Wis.
Pearline Moss	Racine, Wis.
Gianna Pignotti-Wotjak	Kenosha, Wis.
Marey Robinson	Naperville, Ill.
Brystal Schultz	Bristol, Wis.
Cayti Sloan	Hampshire, Ill.
Abby Wetzel	Peoria, Ill.
Jeanelle Young	Waukegan, Ill.
Dance
Name	Hometown
Haley Aitken	Antioch, Ill.
Nacelen Alvarez	Kenosha, Wis.
Ellie Behnke	Oswego, Ill.
Annalisa Bucaro	Addison, Ill.
Alecia Corey	Des Plaines, Ill.
Kailey Davison	Elburn, Ill.
Lauren Hacker	Oak Creek, Wis.
Caroline Huttner	Orlando Park, Ill.
Emilee Klemm	St. Charles, Ill.
Riley LaFave	Racine, Wis.
Michelle Lameer	Burlington, Wis.
Talia Larsen	Kenosha, Wis.
Maddie Leppiaho	Green Bay, Wis.
Stephanie Majer	Huntley, Ill.
Kylie Norman	Milwaukee, Wis.
Danae Palmer	Sterling, Ill.
Belle Rummel	Sussex, Wis.
Natalie Soltykiewicz	Palatine, Ill.
Morgan Tracy	Burlington, Ill.
Brooke Westfall	Racine, Wis.
Alisa Wilbert	Kenosha, Wis.
Twirl
Name	Hometown
Katherine Boffer	Kenosha, Wis.
Elena Cordoba	Morton, Ill.
Brianna Govea	Burbank, Ill.
Cailin McCalister	Richmond, Ill.
Shawn Lopez	Chicago, Ill.
Abby Smith	Winthrop Harbor, Ill.
Emilie Whitlock	Joliet, Ill.
Mascot
Name	Hometown
Oliva Rank	Bloomington, Ill.
Kalie Burger	Oswego, Ill.
Spiro Nick	Carpentersville, Ill.
Kylie Webb	Peoria, Ill.

 
Spirit Team Director:  Amy Malczewski
Assistant Coach, Cheerleaders:  Julie Maher
Dance Technical Coach:  Stephanie Van Wieringen
Twirl Technical Coach:  Emily Barrera