Triton Senior Mikayla Stone never had a coach when she was younger. In the early years of her cheerleading career, she taught herself how to do almost all of her tumbling.

During the 2017 CAL cheerleading competition on Thursday, November 4th Stone won the CAL cheerleading award for Triton’s varsity team.

Stone has been cheerleading for four years. It wasn’t until 9th grade when Stone joined Triton’s Junior Varsity cheerleading team. On this team she was coached by Erin Dempsey who gave her a different perspective in the world of cheerleading. Here her eyes got opened to so much more.

“I used to love watching gymnastics when I was little and when I got to high school I thought it would be fun to try something new, so I signed up for cheer and ended up loving it,” said Stone. The first couple seasons were hard for her due to the fact that she’s never been on a team before, but she quickly got used to it.

Since then, Stone has been cheerleading for Triton. It is now her senior year and the Triton Varsity cheerleading team has received a bid to Nationals, in Orlando, Florida, something that hasn’t been awarded to our cheerleading program since 2014.

Stone has a passion for cheerleading like no other. She comes into practice giving her all every day. When asked why she does cheerleading she replied, “I cheer because I love being a part of a team and I love everything about it.”

Cheerleading captain Carly MacDonald describes Stone as one of her hardest working teammates. “She always has the team’s best interest in mind and she’s constantly pushing herself to be better,” said MacDonald. “She comes into practice ready to work every single day and never complains about anything. She’s one of the team’s biggest assets.”

Although Stone wants to focus on her school work in college, she believes she will keep her cheerleading career alive. “I want to focus on school, but I know I’m going to miss cheering so I most likely will,” said Stone. She is still unaware of what college she would like to attend next year.