CENTER TWP — Butler High School competitive cheerleading has taken on a new gender.

It's taking on new challenges as a result.

Seniors Colin Crouch and Dante Grenci, juniors Nathan Baker and Logan Donnel have tried out for and made the Golden Tornado competitive cheering squad. For the first time in the program's 25-plus year history, it will be competing in the WPIAL and PIAA coed division.

“When those boys first showed up here, I thought they were goofing around, that this was a big joke,” third-year Butler cheerleading coach Marianne Miller admitted.

“But when I saw how seriously they were taking practice, how focused they were and how well they took instruction ... They changed my mind in about 20 minutes.”

Miller described them as “nice kids” and “good listeners.”

Butler's competitive squad now consists of 22 girls and four boys. They will also cheer at Tornado football and basketball games.

“The guys have totally changed the dynamic of this program. They bring a calmness to the team that wasn't here before,” Miller said.

Cristin Caram, who coaches the coed cheerleading squad at Slippery Rock University, has been on hand at Butler practices to help the Tornado transition into a coed unit.

“We can do basket tosses now ... With the new skills these boys bring, the possibilities are endless,” Miller said.

The two senior girls on the squad — Nina Hindman and Olivia Young — helped bring the guys on board.

Hindman is a pole vaulter on Butler's track and field team, as are Grenci and Baker. She overheard the boys talking about joining the cheerleading team.

“I asked them if they were serious and they were,” Hindman said. “I explained the tryout process and encouraged them to come to practice beforehand.”

Three of them did. The fourth — Donnel — learned about it late and did not prep for tryouts until nearly midnight the night before the 9 a.m. session.

“We sent him over a video of what we do so he would have some preparation,” Young said. “But on that short of notice, I never thought he was going to make the team.

“I was wrong. He really worked at it.”

Donnel said he practiced and studied the video until 2 a.m. before reporting to the tryout.

“I knew I was at a disadvantage and I didn't expect to make it,” Donnel said. “I still wanted to go through the experience, figuring it may help me toward next year.

“I was surprised when they took me. The degree of difficulty with this is different from other sports. There's so much skill and technique. It takes time to make it happen.”

Hindman said the boys have been welcomed on to the team and hopes Butler's program stays coed for years to come.

“We're just so much more versatile now with what we can do,” she said. “Our stunts ... We get thrown much higher in the air.

“At camp, when we practiced and performed, another team asked us how many years we've been a coed team. When we told them this was our first year, they couldn't believe it. They said it looked like we've been doing it for years.”

The boys are involved in other sports at Butler as well. While Grenci does the pole vault, Crouch is on the boys volleyball team, Donnel plays volleyball and baseball and Baker is a sprinter and pole vaulter in track.

While at the Pine Forest Cheerleading Camp near the Poconos, Grenci, Crouch, Hindman and Young earned All-America honors and the option to take part in a New Year's Day parade Jan. 1 in England.

They were among 25 cheerleaders selected as All-Americans out of 300. There were approximately 15 cheerleading units at the camp. Only one other — Downingtown West — was coed.

“This is a lot harder than I thought it'd be,” Crouch said. “You have to be completely in synch. I mean, it comes down to a milli-second. I've never been involved in a sport that is that precise.”

Crouch appreciates how close-knit the team is as well.

“It's like a family here. Everyone on the team is so nice to each other ... very supportive,” he said.

Without a gymnastics background, Grenci said “the stunting part is the hardest. Your body has to be so flexible. That takes some getting used to.”

Baker, the son of Butler County Sports Hall of Famer and ex-Butler basketball great Leatha Dudek Baker, became so serious about cheerleading that he did not leave with the rest of his family for a vacation in California.

He stayed behind for a few days to attend cheering camp — then flew out later.

“I couldn't afford to miss that camp. We have to getdown the basic skills,” he said. “I like the fact that we're acrobats in the air here, tossing people up.

“Consistency and timing are the key to everything. All of the guys, we're committed to this. It's a whole new challenge. It's exciting just thinking about what we may be able to accomplish.”

Miller is thinking along those same lines.

“Our first competition isn't until mid-November,” the coach said. “I can't wait to see where we're at by then.”