Cale Teschner and Dylann Finley are spending the fall sports season awash in pompoms, ribbons and herkies.

But Teschner and Finley are far from cliché cheerleaders. They’re part of a different breed of multisport athletes.

The cheer squad is a new team for Teschner, a junior in his first year at Palmer after moving from Las Vegas. Concussions have kept him from playing football this year, though he hopes to be cleared to wrestle in the winter.

“When I was at registration, they told me I should try out,” Teschner said. “I said, ‘Yeah, whatever, I’ll try to meet some new people.’”

The sideline view is only somewhat new for Finley. The Mesa Ridge senior has done cheerleading, volleyball and soccer every other year of high school. But she found herself having to make a choice this fall after new cheer coaches changed the practice schedule to conflict with volleyball games.

“I just thought about what would take me further as far as college scholarships,” said Finley, who has a lot of pressure to get school paid for as the second of six siblings (with another baby on the way). “And I figured cheerleading would take me the furthest.”

Finley said cheerleading and soccer are tied for her favorite sport, but cheering at volleyball games has been “so hard, because I want to be out there playing.”

Sarah Schweiss may be in a similar situation this winter. The Air Academy junior and soccer star is in her first season as a cheerleader. She hasn’t decided if she’ll again be playing basketball – she made The Gazette’s 5A-4A all-area second team last year – though she was considering that option before she joined the cheer team.

“College is getting close, and I’ve been wanting to focus on soccer,” said Schweiss, a sure-fire future Division-I player who is looking at TCU, Wisconsin, Memphis and Colorado College.

And while soccer is the priority, which causes her to miss cheer practice every once in a while in order to get to club practice, Schweiss is enjoying cheering – something she’s wanted to do “since I was young.” Plus, there are cross-training benefits.

“It’s just as hard,” Schweiss said of cheer practice in comparison to soccer or basketball. “I think the first time I went to cheer practice that was the most sore I had been in a while because it’s different muscles. And I’m sure that will help me in soccer.”

Teschner is having a blast too.

“I’m actually having a lot more fun than I thought I would to begin with,” he said. “Learning the cheers is definitely hard, but hanging out with the girls and messing around during practice – I definitely recommend it. I think it’s a great experience.”

Teschner plans to keep cheering even after wrestling season starts. That would put him among several Palmer cheerleaders balancing two sports at the same time.

Senior Amber McAfee and sophomore Taylor Walsh are running cross country in the fall. Both also participate in track, and Walsh is a diver on the swim team, making her a rare four-sport athlete and further challenging the age-old stereotype of a cheerleader.

“I think that me and the other girls being in other sports tells people that we’re not just dancers trying to be popular,” Walsh said.

Teschner said he hasn’t taken any flak for his decision to cheer. And though most of the girls said they’ve been teased, it’s all been in jest.

“I get teased, but I’m really muscular – they call me ‘man arms’ – and most of my muscles came from cheerleading,” Finley said. “I really hope people can see that cheerleaders aren’t girly girls. They’re really smart and really athletic.”

NOT A SPORT?

A federal judge ruled in July that competitive cheerleading is not an official sport that colleges can use to meet Title IX requirements. The Colorado High School Activities Association classifies cheerleading as a sport.

So is it a sport or isn’t it? Here’s what two area high school athletes who also are cheerleaders have to say (athletes’ traditional sports listed in parentheses):

• “I’d say it’s a sport. It’s more of a laid-back sport, but there’s conditioning just like other sports and injuries – and all sports come with injuries. And there’s discipline – you have to pay attention and listen to the coach. It’s run like a usual sport. I wouldn’t say it’s the toughest sport, but it’s definitely a sport.” – Palmer junior Cale Teschner (football and wrestling)

• “People have always said that, but they need to come to try cheerleading practice. It’s not easy. And if people would, they would realize cheerleading is a sport, and it’s hard. – Air Academy junior Sarah Schweiss (soccer and basketball)

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