Four Morgan cheerleaders named All-Americans at UCA Cheer Camp

School may be out for the summer, but the Morgan High cheerleaders are working hard during their summer break to prepare for a year of cheering on the Trojan teams and defending their 3A state competitive cheerleading title. Recently, the JV cheer squad attended the Universal Cheerleaders Association  (UCA) camp along with over a dozen other schools. At the camp, four of Morgan’s cheerleaders were honored with the All-American distinction.

Sophomores TayLee Barker, Oaklee Beckstrom, and Alexis Greenwood along with freshman Kylie Heslop were chosen as individual All-American winners by the panel of judges at the event. The team learned a stunt routine and a dance which they performed on Day 3 of the camp for family and friends who attended. In addition to the presentation of dances and routines, there was a side competition for individual All-Americans. Those who were nominated to try out from each team, including nine total athletes from Morgan, were scored on the camp material by the UCA staff and participated in individual jumps and other skills to qualify. Athletes who earn the All-American award are eligible to participate in Special Events held by the UCA each year. Special Events include performances at national and international parades and festivals.

At the end of the team performances and solo competition, the four Morgan All-Americans were named along with All-American from the other teams. Sophomore Alexis “Lil’ G” Greenwood said “I was surprised I won. I thought I did bad on the dance portion, but I received the advice, ‘If you mess up, just keep smiling’ so I just kept dancing.”

“I wasn’t expecting to win and when they announced ‘Alexis G from Morgan’ I was looking around, not realizing it was me,” Greenwood continued.

Greenwood, who was a member of the 2024 State Championship team, is excited to enter her second year of cheerleading. Her favorite part is stunting, although she claims to be “better at tumbling, but I like dancing more.”

“I love cheer. I love seeing my friends in all the sports.”

“It can be mentally exhausting always keeping up a great attitude and smiling, but it’s so much fun. I love standing on the track at a football game looking up at the crowd and cheering. It’s always worth it then!”

Greenwood has a unique challenge as a cheerleader. She has epilepsy and repeated seizures kept her out of cheering from the end of November through June. “My last seizure was in March, and every day is a victory that I don’t have a seizure!” 

“I’m so excited to be able to cheer and tumble, and I look forward to returning to stunting. My doctor and coaches said I can stunt if I don’t have any more seizures, so right now I’m trying to regain my strength.”

Morgan’s entire cheer squad, JV and Varsity, will head to St. George for a camp before the summer is over, and they will continue to work with their coaches, Sue Ann Kelsey, Ben Nagai, Katie Jensen and Laci Mikesell, to prepare for the 2024-2025 school year and competition season. Greenwood praised her coaches, “I love all our coaches. They are so talented and help us quickly figure out just what we need to fix, and when we do it, it almost always immediately fixes the routine.”

Congratulations to Morgan’s All-Americans, and cheers to the cheerleaders for working so hard to support the teams while competing at a championship level themselves.λ