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Her entire squad quit before the state cheerleading competition. She cheered anyway.

"I've put a lot of time into cheer. It's just always been a part of who I am, so I didn't want to end on that note."

Morrill Lion Cheer Facebook

Her entire squad quit before the state cheerleading competition.

Cheerleading is supposed to be a team sport. Most squads have anywhere from 10 to 20 cheerleaders and some have even more than that. But one squad in Nebraska had just four girls, and less than two weeks before the 2023 Nebraska State Cheer and Dance Championships, all but one cheerleader quit.

Most kids would've followed suit so close to a big competition without their teammates, but Katrina Kohel, then a senior at Morrill High School, decided she was still going to compete—even if it meant she would have to do it alone. Talk about being brave in the face of disappointment. This girl decided she was going to cheer in the competition and she did, without much care for what others thought.

The competition wasn't just the next town over. It was five hours away, so Kohel and her coach, April Ott, really had to mull it over before committing to making that drive, according to Business Insider. In the end, the teen decided that she didn't want to just sit in the crowd or stay home; she wanted to perform the routine she spent so much time learning. But the routine required the entire squad, so before they could make the trip, they had to figure out how to make it a one-person routine.

"I've put a lot of time into cheer. It's just always been a part of who I am, so I didn't want to end on that note. I wanted to go out on a high one. For that to come true, I didn't want to end it just by going to watch state. I wanted to compete." Kohel said. So the lone cheerleader and her coach got to work redoing the routine so it made sense with just one person cheering.

The pair told the Omaha World-Herald that they had to rework the whole performance in a week and a half. It was really a battle of sheer will since Kohel was determined to do her best on the mat without her team. Kohel admitted to the outlet that she was nervous, but no one would have known it.

"She was completely confident the whole week that we practiced," Ott told Business Insider. "It was just 100% confidence, and she just owned it."

This cheerleader was absolutely unstoppable and she had her family's full support. Even Ott's daughter, who was previously a cheerleader at the same high school, tagged along to cheer her on. Kohel's grandparents stood in for her parents because her brother had a state wrestling tournament and her parents are the coaches. But don't worry, they were able to see her cheer through Facebook Live.

Support didn't only come from her family and coach, as other cheerleaders piled into her section and cheered for the brave solo cheerleader. Darin Boysen, executive director of the Nebraska Coaches Association, told the Omaha World-Herald that this was the first time a cheerleader competed alone.

But she didn't just compete—she placed 8th out of 12 squads, which is the highest Morrill High School has placed in the last three years.

"It's almost overwhelming, the amount of support I got from all of them," Kohel explained. "The whole arena was cheering me on. It wasn't just one little section—it was the whole arena."


This article originally appeared last year.

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Sun City Poms is a cheer squad for women over 55 and they're not slowing down

"Inspire before we expire."

Today|YouTube

You're never too old to cheer with the Sun City Poms.

Age is just a number if you ask some people. Once you pass all of the milestone birthdays, time just seems to zoom right on by. You still feel like you're 32, but your birth year is saying you need to add a decade or two. But if you don't feel old, are you actually old or is society trying to put you in an age-shaped box?

If you ask the ladies of Sun City Poms, a cheerleading squad in Arizona for women over 55 years old, age really is just a number. That's right, these ladies, some of whom are well past retirement age, have a cheer squad and man, are they active. Not only do the ladies perform, but they also march, and their practices would be a lot for people half their age.

According to People, the seniors practice three times a week for three hours at a time. That's pretty intense, but it doesn't stop these women from sticking it out, even the ones who are in their 80s.

While people outside of Arizona may just now be hearing of the Sun City Poms, the cheer squad has actually been around since 1979. It started as a cheerleading squad for a women's softball team called Sun City Saints, and eventually evolved from cheering at games to performing 50 shows a year at different events.

Mary Zirbel, 81, has been with the squad since she was around 58. According to People, she joined after she saw them marching in a local parade. The group is only for people who live in the Sun City retirement community, and the group currently has 30 members. They even have some trainees who are being put through a thorough recruitment process to make sure they can hang with the lively crew.

"They're always kidding me about being an old lady but they tolerate me," Ginger Price, now 90, told Today in 2018. "I mean, I could make a mistake or something and I can say, 'Well what do you expect, I'm old,' you know."

The group even performs at local high schools, and there are times when the students scream so loud for them that they can't hear the music.

"I did not think they could dance like that or they could carry people, they could do the splits. Like I thought they were going to do like simple hand movements but no, they like blew my whole mind away, and the whole school's minds away," Emily Essa, a high school student, explained to Today.

Sun City Poms seems to be in a league all on their own. Remember the trainees mentioned earlier? Well, they have to do a three-month class and learn two routines to see if they can keep up before they're even allowed to join the group. While their members are currently ages 58 to 90, the ladies plan to keep going until they can't physically do it anymore.

Peggy Parsons, 81, told People that she's hoping to continue with the Poms until she's at least 90, so they can all celebrate together, saying the goal of the group is, "We aspire to inspire before we expire."

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The music cut out mid-routine at a cheer competition. 10,000 people stepped in to help.

The cheerleaders in the crowd immediately counted and clapped in unison to help keep the routine going.

magenreaves TikTok screenshots

Music goes out in the middle of a cheer competition

Competitive cheerleading is one of the most difficult activities out there. At any given moment, you're flipping, spinning or getting tossed in the air all while shouting chants and trusting your stunt group will catch you. Throw some dancing in the mix and it's like a mash-up of gymnastics, dance and acrobatics that requires tight ponytails and plastered-on smiles even when it hurts.

It's a sport that gets little respect outside of other cheerleaders and their family members, but the training is intense. The private tumbling lessons so you can land your back handspring full twisting layout before tryouts. Gym nights so long you may as well live there, all leading up to important competitions where all of your hard work is on full display.

Imagine putting in all that time, only to have the music stop while you're mid-routine at that competition you just drove hours to get to.


That's exactly what happened to a competitive cheer squad in the middle of what appears to be a National Cheer Association competition. Technical issues are a possibility whenever there's technology in use, but thankfully, cheerleaders generally learn their routines without music to an eight-count with emphasis on the odd numbers. Lucky for the cheerleaders who lost their music mid-routine, the crowd was full of other cheerleaders.

When the music went out, the crowd immediately began to count and clap in unison so the cheerleaders on the mat could finish their routine without interruption. The entire thing was caught on video and the internet is having some feelings.

"This literally gave me chills. They say cheer isn't a sport! Please. This was the epitome of sportsmanship! Class act! Pure bada**," one commenter wrote.

"The way they didn't even hesitate, they heard the music stop and immediately started counting. I have no background in cheer but this was amazing to see," another person said.It's not clear who the cheerleaders are or where this took place. It was posted to TikTok recently by Magen Reaves and currently has 1.9 million views. You can watch the incredible moment for yourself below.

@magenreaves

And why were we all crying?! Such a sweet moment and they slayed their routine! 📣 #AXERatioChallenge #cheerleaders #cheer #cheerleaders #cheertok #competitivecheer #allstarcheer #nca #ncacheer #dallas #zero #zerodeductions

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