What makes wrestling cheerleaders different than the rest? While football and basketball cheerleaders perform standing chants and assemble stunt groups with tumbling moves at games, wrestling cheerleaders use their hands to make catchy chants and rhythms on wrestling mats.

“I feel like we are all a family, because we spend all of our Saturdays together- plus we had a lot of new girls that joined us this year, so they can help advance the program in future years,” said senior Mariel Jones.

As this wrestling season starts winding to an end, sophomore Mattie DeVore reminisced about this current season. “I went out for cheer just for the heck of it, and also because I wanted to try something new. I’ve met a lot of new people through cheer, and even though making beats on mats might not seem like much, I’ve learned I have to pay attention. If I don’t, I might get run over and that wouldn’t be pretty.”

This isn’t the last you will see of them, though. This weekend at home, sectionals take place at noon. After that, the two top wrestlers in each weight class will move on to districts at Harlan.

If you are interested in joining the team, tryouts are usually in April. Wrestling cheerleaders need to exemplify rhythm, jump technique, and tumbling skills in order to score high at tryouts which improves the likelihood of making the team.

Freshman Sabrina McDonald advised people interested in trying out to “Just be sharp and go for it.”