Don’t talk aloud that cheerleading isn’t sport around Harmony’s Casey Clough.
Following a ceremony Wednesday in the Harmony media center, Clough and teammates went off to practice for flag football — a sport that doesn’t offer college scholarships.
But, Wednesday, Clough, a four-year member of the Longhorns’ competitive cheer team, signed a college grant to participate in that sport, which she’s been involved with long before high school in the Harmony Pop Warner program, to Warner University, just down the road in Polk County in Lake Wales.
“I’d like to see them throw a girl u pin the air, catch her, and nobody get hurt. The time and effort we put in, it’s a lot,” she said, seated alongside parents Corey and Susan and brother Riley, and Harmony cheer coaches Danielle Curry and Kristie Rupchand.
“We’ve watched her all the way through the Harmony cheer program excel and grow the passion for this sport,” Curry said. “She can be our sparkplug and an energy spark.”
Her last year of Pop Warner cheer she realized she could, and wanted to, cheer in college, so Wednesday was the culmination of about a five-year dream. She’ll be studying criminal justice on her Warner scholarship, with an eye on becoming a private investigator.
Clough helped Harmony win the Class 1A large varsity state title in 2019, and was chosen for the United Cheer Association All-America team. She has also been a member of the Longhorns’ girls weightlifting and flag football programs.
Clough is the second cheerleading athlete in Osceola County to sign a college scholarship. Isabela Delima from Osceola inked a deal to attended Belmont Abbey in North Carolina earlier this school year.
