Former Middlesboro High School Cheerleaders Bring Championship Spirit at LMU
- KySportsStyle.com
- Feb 5
- 5 min read
(Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series about the four members of Middlesboro High School’s 2024 national championship cheerleading team who have moved on to cheer on the university level.)
By Jamie H. Vaught
KySportsStyle.com Magazine
Lincoln Memorial University’s cheerleading squad currently features three freshman members who came from Middlesboro High School, the 2024 Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) national champion. The former Yellow Jacket cheerleaders are Ryleigh Ausmus, Alexis Marsee and Shelby Vaughn.
And the LMU cheerleading squad, coached by Rhileigh Alred, recently made history when they competed at the national level for the first time ever. The Railsplitters’ cheerleaders performed at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inside Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and they came back home on an impressive note, finishing fourth in the Open All Girl Game Day Division.
Last season when Alred was recruiting high school cheerleaders for LMU, she wanted to add cheerleaders who had experienced the game day competition environment.
“When Middlesboro won their competition last year, I knew I would be reaching out and recruiting as many as I could,” said Alred. “Alexis, Shelby, and Ryleigh all bring knowledge of the game day competition environment and that is something I want to grow within our LMU Cheer team. They are all phenomenal cheerleaders and I’m so glad they chose to bring their talents to the LMU Cheer team. The future is very bright for them and LMU Cheer.”
Since LMU’s main campus is located in Harrogate, Tenn., where the university is only 10 minutes away from Middlesboro, former Yellow Jacket Ryleigh Ausmus decided to remain close to home. “I decided to cheer at LMU to go into college with a good group of friends to help me throughout while staying close to home,” she said.
Ausmus, who began her cheerleading career as a six-year-old Little Bee in Middlesboro, said her favorite cheerleading moment was being a part of “the first group at Middlesboro and LMU to make it to the nationals.”
While at MHS, Ausmus starred in Track & Field as a captain where she earned trips to the state finals for four straight years. In addition to cheerleading, she served as president of Beta Club and secretary of National Honor Society, among others.
Ausmus, who works as an assistant teacher at Smart Start Early Learning Academy in Middlesboro, also has earned 22 college credit hours at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College before attending LMU.
Ausmus is majoring in nursing. Asked about her toughest college course so far, she said, “The most challenging class I’ve taken probably has been microbiology at LMU.”
The second LMU cheerleader from MHS is Alexis Marsee, who began her cheerleading career when she was four years old.
Marsee said her favorite moment as a cheerleader was “winning a national championship my senior year of high school.”
She added, “I knew we had won when they called third place (which went to a team that was very difficult to beat). I was praying in that moment that all our hard work over the last four years had paid off and it was the most rewarding feeling ever when we weren’t called for second place. The first thing I did was hug my mom who had coached us over the last four years and knowing her hard work had paid off, too. It was a very special moment for us.”
Marsee’s mother, Carlena Carter, was one of the cheerleading coaches at MHS along with Shea Yoakum and Jennifer Green.
While at Middlesboro High, Marsee was very active in addition to serving as a captain of the cheerleading squad. A member of National Honor Society (where she was a treasurer) and Beta Club, among others, she was in the Early College Program, taking a full load of classes at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. An honor student at Southeast with a perfect GPA of 4.0, she received an Associate of Science degree by the time she graduated from high school. She was also selected as one of the valedictorians for graduation.
“The most challenging class I have taken so far would be Calculus in person at Southeast,” Marsee recalled. “I had to balance my classes at the high school while traveling to Southeast to take this hard course.”
After high school, Marsee, who also serves as a Sunday School teacher at her church, wanted to continue cheerleading at LMU. “I love the sport and the bond that you create with your other teammates,” she explained. “I wanted to continue to make friends and compete at nationals to represent my college.”
At LMU, Marsee is majoring in Exercise Science-Pre OTD (occupational therapy). She recently made the Dean’s List.
Shelby Vaughn is another LMU cheerleader from Middlesboro. Like Ausmus and Marsee, Vaughn brings her championship talent and spirit to the university.
“I had decided to go to LMU for college and was already very interested in continuing my cheer career in college,” she said. “I couldn't imagine my life without it, and I’m so grateful that I’m a part of LMU's cheer team. I can't wait to see what the next few years have to offer.”
Vaughn started her cheerleading career at the age of six. “(I was) in first grade at Middlesboro Elementary School, so about 13 years of cheerleading,” she commented.
She said her most memorable cheerleading moment was when MHS “placed first at UCA nationals after six years of hard work with my high school team. Winning had to be the greatest feeling ever. I was just so proud of myself and my team, who had been together, working towards the same goal for six years.
“I remember squeezing my friend's hand so tightly when they were announcing the top three and got extremely excited when they didn't call us second place. Definitely a moment I will never forget. The first thing I did after winning was cry happy tears and celebrate with my friends and family.”
In addition to cheerleading, Vaughn was very active in high school, including memberships in National Honor Society, Beta Club and Key Club. She added, “I was honored to be named one of eight valedictorians in my graduating class.”
At LMU, Vaughn, who is actively involved with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry on campus, is majoring in Exercise and Rehabilitation Science.
“The most difficult class I have taken would be chemistry,” she smiled. “I had my challenges with that class, but I ended up passing with a B.”
After getting her degree, Vaughn would like to move on and attend Eastern Kentucky University for OT school with the hopes of becoming an occupational therapist.
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro., he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.
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