Athlete of the Week: Rylee Jones

Jonah Kramer, Sports Editor • Dec 28, 2021

Jeff Christopherson

First Year Success: Jones and the Iron cheer team finished 2nd at the Boilermaker Cheer Competition and the Wilmington Invite, which qualified them for the Illinois Cheerleading Coaches Association (ICCA) State Competition. This is Jones’ first year cheering competitively for NCHS, as she previously cheered at an All Star Gym called Titanium Force Cheer.

Source of Inspiration: “Definitely my family. They’ve always pushed me to be the best athlete that I can be. My mom goes to every single one of my competitions and travels with me, if that’s Texas, or Florida, or Atlanta, Georgia.”

Hardest Part of Cheer: “Mental toughness is a huge thing in cheerleading. Whenever something goes wrong we always have to get back up and pretend like it never happened.”

Biggest Strength as a Cheer Athlete: Jones is able to draw upon her experience as an upperclassman, and someone who began cheering at age 4, to lead and encourage her teammates.

Post-Grad Plans: Jones plans to major in Biology with intentions to follow a Physician Assistant track. She is interested in continuing her cheerleading career with the University of Iowa and Kansas University as her top options.

Favorite Memory of Career: Cheering at the football games against Normal West. “It’s always fun when the whole school comes out.”

Favorite School Subject: Biology

Favorite Movie: Any Marvel Movie

Other Activities: Jones is involved in Key Club, Interact Club and Senior Class Board. She also serves as a freshman mentor and works at HomeGoods.

What’s Next? Jones and her teammates compete at the ICCA State Competition on Jan. 8.

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About the Contributor

Jonah Kramer, Sports Editor

Jonah Kramer is a senior at Normal Community High School and participates in Best Buddies, FBLA and cross country. This is his second year working with the Inkspot, where he is a senior staff reporter. A random fact about me is that my front tooth has been broken five different times. My favorite film is Knives Out. What inspires me is Jesus Christ.