Former Highland, Mater Dei cheerleaders help Lindenwood win 2 national titles
Two former southwestern Illinois high school cheerleaders recently helped the Lindenwood University cheerleading squad take home a pair of national championships.
Rileigh Bent from Highland and Montana Kasten from Mater Dei High School competed with the Lions squad April 8-10 in the 2021 NCA/NDA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Having two local competitors win on a big national stage is a tremendous boon to coaches such as Josh O’Toole, who coached Bent and Kasten in their middle and high school years at Core Elite Gymnastics in Highland.
“They both trained here at Core Elite, and they both did very well here,” O’Toole said.
Bent, a 2020 Highland graduate who is just finishing up her freshman year at Lindenwood in St. Charles, Missouri, was an active member of the Bulldogs cheerleading squad from 2016-2020.
Highland High School cheerleading coach Angier Fears remembers how Bent got started with the Bulldogs cheer squad as a freshman.
“She came on as a freshman and she had never flown (done the flyer position) on middle cheer (teams) or anything like that. She was a back spot but when she came in ... I was actually looking for a flyer and she jumped right in and filled that spot,” Fears said. “She’s probably one of the best flyers I’ve ever had.”
Fears is proud of Bent’s accomplishments and strong success in just her first year at Lindenwood.
“It is great because that’s what we ultimately push for is for kids to be successful and take on their careers in cheer in college,” Fears said. “Not many go on and the ones that do, that’s the success right there. The sport has become so big and so cutthroat that for one of our kids to make it and also do well in it, that’s what our program (at Highland) is about.”
Lindenwood won championships in the Advanced Small Coed Open Division and the Intermediate Small Coed Division over Tarleton State University and Prott Community College, respectively.
The Lions cheer group also placed second in the Advanced Large Coed Division.
Impact on Highland programs
Bent’s success this season will definitely have a positive impact on the middle and high school cheerleading programs in Highland for years to come.
“It just shows that coming from the little town of Highland that they can still be successful and go off to college if they want to and hopefully build the program for those kids that see it here. And if those kids follow cheer at all and know what nationals are, it should hopefully make them want to cheer in high school more and get themselves ready for college cheer,” Fears said.
The two recent national championships were the eighth and ninth in Lindenwood program history.