HHS graduate selected as member of Alabama cheer squad

By Melica Allen
Sports
nwamallen@
centurytel.net
HALEYVILLE  - Mary Kathryn Evans has loved gymnastics and cheerleading most of her life. She will be taking that love to a new milestone this fall as an Alabama Crimson Tide cheerleader. She tried out this spring.
The 2019 Haleyville High School graduate has worked hard in achieving her goals.   She began taking gymnastics at the age of two, starting out with Celeste Whiteside, in Haleyville.
She began attending gymnastics in Jasper when she was in the first or second grade and continued throughout her elementary school years.
“I went to Jasper on Tuesdays and I loved it,” Mary Kathryn said with her signature smile.
“I guess I was in about the seventh grade when I started going to Florence for training two times a week. I loved it then too,” she remembered. “I have never quit loving gymnastics.
“I started doing competitive cheer in the 10th grade, with Champion Cheer Athletics and the Florence Flyers, while continuing to cheer at HHS.” Evans has been a cheerleader at Haleyville since she was in the seventh grade.
The green-eyed beauty said she played park and recreation ball - volleyball, basketball, softball -  as a young girl, even spending summers on travel ball teams. “The more I was doing cheerleading, the more I realized that I loved it,” she pointed out. “There is not anything else I’d rather do than cheerleading,” she explained.
Evans has earned All American honors as a cheerleader from eighth grade through her senior year. “I have been to Disney World twice as an All-American and then went to London last December as an All-American,” she said.
Evans was recognized at cheerleading camp four straight years with the Pin It Forward award, which honors girls for leadership, motivation, kindness, spirit, and commitment to excellence.
She also won the jump off contest in her eighth and 10th grade years.
“There are so many people that I have to thank for helping me reach a dream in my life,” Evans said. “I want to thank Celeste. She planted the thought in my head that I could be an Alabama cheerleader. She has encouraged me and built up my confidence.
“My mom has driven me all over the country for cheer. She goes to all my competitions and sacrificed many, many weekends for me. She would drive me to my out-of-town gymnastic classes. She has always been there, as has all my family. We are all supportive of each other. When I said I wanted to be a college cheerleader, my family all said I could do it.
“I want Wendy Rushing, my cheer coach at HHS, to know how much I appreciate what she has done for me and all the other cheerleaders. I told her when I was in the 10th grade that I wanted to be an Alabama cheerleader.  She told me to go for it. I told her again my junior year and in my senior year. She said, ‘OK Kat, you go for it. Do what you have to do.’ She has always been someone I could confide in. I am hard on myself and she would always remind me that everyone has a bad day sometimes.
I have appreciated the time I have spent with my cheering squads and the friendships that have been made.
“My other cheer coaches have been instrumental in challenging me to be better. I love a challenge. I need that for myself.”
Evans has achieved many other successes in her life, as well, other than cheerleading. In her senior year, she was crowned Miss Havala, named Who’s Who Teacher Selected Best Leader, Who’s Who Student Selected Most Athletic, Delta Theta Chi Sorority Community Chair and HHS Student Government Association Public Relations Officer, varsity cheer captain, DECA vice president, DECA state winner in her junior and senior years, AHSAA Leadership Team member her junior and senior years, National Honor Society, 10th-12th grades, Freshmen Honor Society, Senior Miss Leo’s Loveliest, 9th grade, Junior Civitans, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Havala Yearbook Staff.
Evans is the daughter of Todd and Heather Evans, of Haleyville, and has a brother Will, who plays football for the University of North Alabama, a younger brother, Dixon, and younger sister Maddie Jane.
Evans has not decided at this time what she will major in at Alabama.
“I have time for that,” she said. “I am going to take time and find out what I want to do with my life.”