Middlesboro's Kennedy Yoakum Shines as EKU Cheerleader
- Feb 4, 2025
- 3 min read
(Editor’s note: This is the first 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
A former cheerleader at Middlesboro High School has taken her national championship talent to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. Her name is Kennedy Yoakum, now a freshman cheerleader for the Colonels.
Why EKU? “I have loved cheerleading for as long as I can remember and it was always a dream of mine to cheer in college,” said Yoakum in a recent interview. “When our high school season was over, I began to go to cheer clinics all over Kentucky to decide what my next step would be. However, when I got to EKU, I just knew I was home. The program, the coaches and the cheerleaders there are the best of the best.”
By the way, Eastern Kentucky cheerleading team has won three national titles at the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) in their division since 2021.
Yoakum began her cheerleading career when she was five years old. “I was in preschool at that time and cheered in the Middlesboro youth league as a Little Bee,” she said.
Asked about her favorite cheerleading moment of her career so far, Yoakum commented, “This is such a good question and so difficult to pick just one. I would have to say that winning high school nationals last year is my overall favorite memory, followed closely by getting to continue my cheer career at EKU and compete for the first time at UCA College Nationals.”
Reflecting on the ‘dream come true’ moment when Middlesboro High School captured the UCA national cheerleading championship in the small varsity division in Orlando, Yoakum said, “It was so surreal! But at that moment, nothing else mattered. The hours of practice, the tears, the injuries, they just all seemed to disappear. It was a feeling of pure joy and relief combined. We had finally done what we worked 10 years to do, and it felt amazing.”
Her mother, Shea Yoakum, was one of the MHS cheerleading coaches along with Carlena Carter and Jennifer Green.
Shortly after the national championship victory, Yoakum added the jubilant cheerleaders went to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, wearing “our white ‘National Champs’ jackets and took pictures in front of the castle to celebrate.”
While in high school, Yoakum was also a standout softball player for the Lady Jackets, playing as a catcher and an outfielder. During her senior year, she was crowned as the football homecoming queen. For the 2024 MHS graduation, she was selected as one of the valedictorians.
While working on her undergraduate degree in biomedical science at EKU, Yoakum has taken some classes that aren’t easy. She said the most difficult or challenging course so far is CHE 111 General Chemistry. “There is just so much information to absorb, decipher and apply in a short period of time,” she explained.
And she still has a GPA of 4.0 while earning President’s and Dean’s lists.
After graduation, Yoakum plans to attend medical school.
A personable young lady, Yoakum said she is very thankful to be able to continue cheerleading. It is something that she loves. “Cheerleading has been something special to me for my entire life,” she added.
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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