When Alexia Wold was about 4 or 5 years old, her brother played football for Bayfield’s Wolverines. Wold said she would go to his games, but she spent most of the time with Bayfield’s cheerleaders. With Wold always joining them on the sidelines, the cheerleaders eventually put her in an old uniform so she looked like she was part of the team while cheering with them.
She started cheerleading for real in fifth or sixth grade, she said, and has been doing it ever since.
“It’s something I love doing,” Wold said. “I like the family it creates – you have to create a super-strong trust with the team.” For the flier, that trust is necessary when doing stunts like a back tuck toss and landing in someone else’s arms.
Wold was part of Bayfield’s team that competed in the national championships when she was a freshman. The senior and her teammates, who have finished second in Colorado’s state championships four consecutive years behind Coal Ridge, will compete at nationals this February.
After that, Wold will keep cheering. On Wednesday, Wold signed her national letter of intent to compete for Dickinson State University’s co-ed cheerleading team beginning next fall.
Dickinson State is in Dickinson, North Dakota, and competes in the NAIA’s North Star Athletic Conference. She said a lot of college cheerleading teams just cheer on sidelines at games and then compete once a year at nationals. Dickinson competes in a full schedule of competitions.
“That’s why I’m excited to go there,” Wold said. “They compete like a football or basketball team.”
She said the thinks her her time cheering at Bayfield prepared her “quite a bit” to compete in college, helping her tumbling and stunting and exposing her to some of the best cheerleaders in the country at national competitions. “It made me realize what’s so important about competing,” she said about competing at nationals with her Wolverine teammates. “It lets you see where you stand and where you can get better.”
Last year, Dickinson State’s cheerleaders finished 15th in the nation.
Wold said Dickinson found her through a recruiting app where she was able to post videos of her cheering.
“They approached me through that,” she said. “I went up there in September and visited the school, and I liked it. It was really nice. And the people are super-nice.”
She said they think their hills are mountains, though, which she laughed at, but liked everything else about the school and program. Wold also said they offered her a scholarship, which can grow over the years as she learns more skills.
“I’m really excited to go be on the competitive team,” she said. “That’s what I want to do, is compete and learn new skills with them.”
Cheering on sidelines at games, however, is also something she enjoys.
“It’s hard to get people into the spirit if you don’t have cheerleaders to do it,” Wold said.
