All things that the football coaches look for when putting together their football squad every fall at Grinnell High School.
But what about the gal leading the cheers on the sideline?
Certainly not a prerequisite, but that's exactly what you'll find every Friday night when GHS goes into battle.
And before you go ahead and dismiss this blog as another attempt at legitimizing cheerleading as sport, this gal has the hardware to prove it.
Did I mention she's got the beautiful part down, too?
For the Tiger faithful that have seen Kailee Doty tumble down the track in front on the home stands on a Friday night in an impressive series of handsprings, none of this comes as any surprise. Nor does it surprise any of the judges at the National Cheerleader Association who chose her as the Top Performer over 150 of the best of the best at this summer's Varsity National All-American camp in Ames. She's performed at Disney's Christmas Day Parade as a result, and if she were more willing to fly (as in on a plane) she'd be headed to London, England for its New Year's Day Parade in 2016.
Long story short... the girl isn't just a cutie in a skirt. She can get after it with all the power and grace of a collegiate gymnast.
And to prove my point that she's more than just a pretty face, Miss Doty is carving out her own niche athletically as well at Grinnell. A conference and district champion in the 100 meter dash already in her hip pocket, Kailee and her 4x100 teammates have one of the top times in the state returning this year as the Class 3A fifth place finisher at the state meet... and not a senior in the bunch from a year ago..
It made for some interesting discussion during her session as an old trackster that used to come out of the blocks for sprint relays myself back in the day. You won't be finding me doing handsprings anytime soon... but I could talk legitimately about getting out of the blocks with our lil' Tiger powder keg.
I photographed Kailee's big brother Mason a couple years back... and a couple decades back, her mom went to school with my wife and I at LDF-SEMCO (now East Marshall). So... there was lots of catching up to do with Team Doty at Kailee's session... which is always good.
Mason is living it up at Iowa State now, and from the sounds of it, his sister will probably follow suit next fall. Maybe in dietetics, I'm told. Not sure if she wants to continue with cheerleading once she gets to college... but I have no doubt that ISU could do a whole lot worse than this gal when making their selections on who to cheer on the Cyclones.
Regardless, it was great to catch up with friends, and despite what was an excruciating wait, I hope that finally getting to see her images has her head over heels... just like on Friday nights.
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