CHEER CATS MCMASTER, REID SIGN WITH UAFS

Teagen McMaster and Megan Reid have been cheering together for six years for Booneville Schools and while the end of their days in a Bearcat cheer uniform are numbered, their days together are not.

In a joint signing ceremony Wednesday morning before the student body and their respective parents, Reid (Steve and Jennifer Reid) and McMaster (Junior and Cynthia McMaster) signed letters of intent to cheer for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

“I’ve coached Megan and Teagen since seventh grade and in that time they have grown and matured tremendously,” cheer head coach Racheal May said prior to the girls signing. “If you knew them when they were in seventh grade and junior high, you would have never guess that they were going to go to the same college and intentionally cheer on the same team.”

Still, as freshmen they were chosen to be on the senior high competition team together. While cheer cats McMaster and Reid won a state title and two runner-ups.

UAFS head coach Branden Gregory said the BHS athletes will be a welcome addition to their squad.

“We are really excited to pick up Megan and Teagen,” said Gregory. “I’ve picked up several cheerleaders from Booneville and Coach May always does a great job with her cheer team and all her athletes are always exceptional.

“These two I met at a clinic that we had in November and I knew that I wanted to get these guys on my team next year. I think you guys will have a great fit and it will be a great experience."

Reid said the clinic was the clincher for her to go to UAFS.

“I was looking at going to Harding or the University of Arkansas but I just wanted to wait a little bit so I could stay with my family and be supported by them,” said Reid.

Before the clinic McMaster was sure about going to college, but not so much about where or cheering in college. Until the clinic. Then the decision got easy.

“When coach Branden offered me a spot, I chose here,” said McMaster.

Reid is typically high in the air (flyer) with McMaster boosting (base) as far as cheering goes, May said the girls are pretty much interchangeable.

“They’re both all-around cheerleaders,” May said. “They can both base and they can both fly. They can both fly co-ed, they can both fly co-ed in group stunt. They both have good jumps.”

The girls cheer relationship actually goes back even further into tumbling and All Star cheering before seventh grade.

The duo joins former a list of Bearcat cheerleaders who have gone on to cheer in college that includes Brooklyn Zarlingo (currently at Arkansas Tech), Brooklyn May (Central Arkansas), Austin Dobbs (UAFS), Lane Beckett (UAFS), and Lilly Dobbs (UAFS), Zane Adams (UA), Jamie Mikles (Carl Albert), and Chad Farris (UA).