PROVO — Linebackers are as tough as athletes come.
They are competitive, too, so it's little wonder that former high school linebacker Ben Heemeyer bristles when football or basketball players look down on cheerleaders.
If only one of those athletes had the moxie to attempt a cheer squad workout.
"When I tried out as a freshmen at 220 pounds I thought I was good to go," said Heemeyer, a Brigham Young University junior from Troutdale, Ore.
After two days of rigorous routines, however, his muscles were so sore he could barely walk. "We always say that if we could get the top two athletes in each sport to do our workouts for two days, they'd respect us . . . There's nothing like cheer shape."
As if to prove their toughness, BYU's cheerleaders pulled a unique tripleheader in March to win the United Spirit Association's collegiate show cheer championship for small co-ed teams in Las Vegas. BYU qualifies in that category because it has 19 or fewer members of the cheer squad.
But because of the LDS Church-owned school's no-Sunday-competition rule, BYU did its qualifying routine on Monday, just before the finals were to start. Then, just a few hours later, the team had to compete in the finals — a disadvantage compared to the other teams who had qualified on Sunday and had a day to rest.
"The routines can only be two-and-a-half 2 1/2 minutes long," coach Jocelyn Allan said. "It's short, but it's straight cardio, lifting and throwing for two-and-a-half 2 1/2 minutes. It's a real workout, and you're huffing and puffing and sore when it's over."
Less than an hour after BYU qualified, it was first up in the finals.
"We hit our stuff 100 percent," Heemeyer said. "It was a great routine."
None of the other teams complained about the exception made for BYU, USA marketing director Rhonda Roberts said. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas finished second, and the University of California-Los Angeles was third.
The BYU squad's stamina was only beginning to be tested, however. After the awards presentation, the cheerleaders grabbed their trophy, T-shirts and medals, hugged their families and friends, took a few pictures and piled into two vans for the six-hour drive back to Provo.
They arrived at the Marriott Center just as the BYU and University of Utah men's basketball teams were being introduced. At halftime, they performed the routine a third time.
"There were close to 22,000 people at that game," Heemeyer said. "The adrenaline overcame the bleary eyes and sore muscles."
And BYU beat Utah, 70-57, to complete an undefeated season at home.
"It was a great finish to a great day," Heemeyer said.
It also validated Allan's rigorous requirements. Each cheerleader is required to practice with the team 10 hours a week and then make an additional five visits to a local gym — three weightlifting sessions and two aerobic workouts for the guys and vice versa for the gals.
"Some guys like to say what we do is no big deal because the girls only weigh 100 pounds," Heemeyer said. "Yeah, but we're throwing them up there 100 times a night. I love doing triathlons during the summer, but when I come back to cheer practice, it's an entirely different thing."
Then there are the duties of a cheerleader — five or more hours a week cheering for the football team, home and away, and at home only for the men's and women's basketball teams and women's volleyball team.
The squad, still relatively fresh off completing its own March Madness magic, also accompanied the men's basketball team to the NCAA tournament.
BYU's specialty is a basket toss, a stunt where the female cheerleaders are propelled 30 to 35 feet into the air and do twists, flips and spins on the way up and down, but Heemeyer credited Allan, a cheerleader from 1997 through 2000, for choreographing the routine and perfecting the team's stunts in her first year as head coach.
"Jocelyn is an awesome coach," he said. "We could see on the video of our championship routine the attention to detail she gives us that makes us better."
Arduous workout demands and the heavy appearance schedule — including tailgating parties, corporate sponsor events and school assemblies — come on top of a requirement that each cheerleader carry a full-time student's class load of 12 or more credit-hours.
It's a large commitment for a $500 stipend each semester, but Heemeyer said it's worth it.
"It pays for books, and it's a great way to be involved in sports when you're not 300 pounds or seven feet tall," he said. "And it's a great way to get great seats to the games."
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com