Caldwell County High School senior Aubrey Lancaster signed Monday to cheer at Murray State University.
The CCHS cheerleader held a signing ceremony in the high school cafeteria.
She spoke about how the opportunity to cheer at MSU came about.
“I got introduced to the Murray State cheer team by my friend Addi, and she told me that they had a form and that they were having clinics soon. And I decided that maybe I should just take the opportunity and try out for it, even though I really didn’t think I would make it.
“And it was really scary because there were a lot of people there, but I’m really glad I took the opportunity.”
Caldwell athletic director Jeff Riley said some people may not realize the time and effort required to be a cheerleader.
“It’s a huge commitment. That time commitment is not just what you see when you come to football and basketball games. There’s competition prep, and there’s conditioning prep, and there’s weight lifting, and there’s tumbling, and there’s gymnastics, and there’s dance, and there’s all these things that go into cheerleading that not everybody sees.
“So one of the things I think sometimes if you’re not involved in cheer, if you haven’t had a child in cheer, you don’t know somebody who’s done anything with cheer. You just don’t know the time it takes to just be competitive, to be good at it, to even attempt to do it, and the demands that it takes. It’s really twice, it’s really two seasons.
“It’s like being a two-sport athlete. It’s like playing football and basketball, because the time commitment is a very similar commitment.”
Lancaster will study occupational therapy at Murray State.
