Ever since cheerleading has been recognized as an official sport at Mesa State, there has been a lot more attention being focused on the sidelines of each football game. As more and more people tryout to become a cheerleader, it becomes harder and harder to cut so many girls. With gaining popularity, the attention hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“We’re starting to get noticed more and more. Just like the rest of Mesa State sports, we’re getting noticed,” senior cheerleading co-captain Ben Johnson said.
Mesa State cheerleading is going under the reconstruction process this year. The cheerleading team, which previously had 24 cheerleaders, has almost doubled in size this year. The current squad consists of 41 members, enough to split into two teams, an all female team and a coed team, consisting of six male members.
“We’ve been rebuilding for a few years now, but now that we have returning members this year from a team that finished 6th in nationals, we have a base to build on,” co-captain Molly Johnson said.
Last year was the first year the cheerleading squad at Mesa State was recognized as an official sport.
“Its always been a sport that has lived in the gray area. We were a club team that was treated fairly, but now that we are an official sport we have access to strength and conditioning coaches as well as athletic trainers assigned directly to us,” coach Athena Whaley said. “The growth of the school has definitely affected our talent level. When you have 80 people try out, you can’t turn away 60 of them.”
The sheer number of cheerleaders of a two-team squad has allowed them to be more versatile with their time and availability.
“Now when there is a women’s soccer game outside and a volleyball game inside we can send a large squad to both sporting events,” Whaley said. “We can also send both a coed team and an all girls team to Nationals. By this level of cheerleading the sport has to be their passion, they have to want to do it and and want get better. The sport is more than just looking cute in a uniform, we’re a team full of good people, we’re a family full of good Division II student athletes.”
With the campus going under much reconstruction itself, the cheerleading team also looks to be new and improved. Ben and Molly have been running the team for the last four seasons and look to make sure that cheerleading becomes just as noticed as the bigger programs at the school.
u
chughes@mesastate.edu