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Kossuth High School – 3A Game Day Cheer State Champions

Photo by Randy J. Williams

Kossuth cheer earns 3A game day state title

By TANNER MARLAR

For Crossroads Magazine

When people think of the most award-winning athletic programs in the Alcorn county, their mind may immediately shift to baseball, basketball or football.

However, at Kossuth High School, there’s another program that has consistently stacked up on accolades – Kossuth Cheer.

Head coach Baylee Turner has taken her squads to multiple state titles, including this past season, when the team won first place overall in the 3A game day division. That is not all, though. This past season the team was able to do something not many have ever done, especially not many from Alcorn County.

The team traveled to Orlando, Florida, where they competed at a national competition with 35 other teams from across the United States. There, the girls placed sixth overall, cementing their names in the record books of the well-decorated program.

Turner spoke about what the trip meant to the girls and everything it took to get there.

“It was huge for the girls,” said Turner, “Kossuth’s never been to nationals. We had state (competitions) in December, and then we had until February 11-12 (2022) to prepare.”

Turner went on to explain that throughout their preparation, they had to deal with several absences due to members of the team playing other sports, such as captain and Lady Aggie basketball player Kaitlyn Bonds.

The team soldiered forward, though, due in large part to the leadership of the other captains and team members.

“Our seniors did a great job,” Turner explained, “We had Alanna Mitchell, Kaitlyn Bonds as our captains and then

Kossuth High School’s Cheer Team celebrates their 3A Game Day State Championship.

Photo by Randy J. Williams

our co-captains Emily Ross, Marlee Morgan and Isabella Duncan, and they did a great job making sure that everybody was ready for practice, warm ups and everything in between.”

The head coach spoke about some specific leadership moments, such as when Mitchell would text members of the team individually to offer words of encouragement, constructive criticism and uplifting messages to better the morale in practices while simultaneously helping her team members work on their craft.

“You know, in practice it was encouraging words. It was uplifting. If we had a bad practice, Alanna would be like ‘c’mon guys!’, just encouraging words that really lifted them up,” Turner explained.

This was not the first time the girls had brought home some hardware, though. In fact, this is the second state title the girls have received under Turner. Repetition is not easy when you’re on top of the mountain, and Turner, and her girls know that.

“I think they’re held to that high expectation when they come in knowing that this is a great program, and that they’re held to that higher standard, so they have to keep that up. And they work hard, and they know going into it that this isn’t a joke, this isn’t something that they can come in and just ride out,” Turner said. “It comes with a lot of work, but victories along the way.”

When asked what her favorite moment of the season was, Turner said it had to be the week leading up to the team’s trip to nationals.

The girls had themed practices each day of the week, and on the final day of said practices, before the girls hopped on a plane to fly across the country to perform the routine they had worked on for countless hours, they held one more practice – this time, in front of the girls’ parents.

“I feel like with all of our parents and family and friends in the stands, because not everyone (of the parents) could go, that practice was more memorable and exciting,” said Turner. “I felt like at that moment I knew we were ready. All of the practice, it paid off and that we were ready from that moment.”

When asked about what the future looks like for the Aggies’ cheer squad, Turner’s hopes for the future were bright.

There is a large sophomore class, according to Turner, that breeds plenty of excitement. That group is 8-9 strong at the very least, and now that they’ve made the trip once, they’re itching to do it again. “They’re super talented,” Turner said. “I’m really excited to see them come up. There is a bunch of them in the group who are leaders, and they’ve came a long way from freshman year. They’ve grown, and I’m excited to see how that group will go, because I see a lot of potential in them.”