Highland’s Emily Wilhelm (center), pictured with her parents, signs her letter of intent to attend Malone University and compete on its stunt team.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
After graduating from Highland this year, Emily Wilhelm will attend Malone University, where she intends to major in business management and compete on the school’s stunt team.
“I kind of had Malone in mind anyway because my parents graduated from there and so did my sister,” she said. “I looked at many other colleges as well, but Malone is the one that really stuck out to me. I also went there and did an overnight and their stunt team was beyond kind and caring.”
She added that after visiting Malone, her mind was essentially made up.
“I kind of knew right after I left Malone,” said Wilhelm. “My mom picked me up and we went out to breakfast and I kind of just knew. We had talked about the differences between Malone and the other colleges I had visited. I just really liked Malone and the campus and their business program.”
Wilhelm said stunt is a version of cheerleading that focuses on team competition.
“You get eight routines at the beginning of the season from the head corporation,” she explained. “They are only like 2o second routines. Four of them are actual stunting, which is when you put fliers up in the air, and they consist of certain levels, so you start at level one and you go all the way to level eight. There are other routines that are tumble routines and they also go from level one to level eight. Then you have pyramid and stunt routines which happen during the stunt.
“If you’re comparing that to school cheer, school cheer is more of you’re cheering and have actual cheers that you learn,” she continued. “In stunt, you’re learning routines to compete them and you’re also competing side by side with your opponent instead of school cheer, where you’re just doing it for fun.”
Wilhelm noted that a big reason why she wanted to do stunt in college was simply to try something different.
“I think it was something new,” she said. “Since I’ve been cheering competitively for 12 years, it’s something different from competitive cheer — what’s I’m used to doing — so I think doing stunt is going to be a lot more fun and challenging for me because I wanted something that was going to advance my skills.”
She added that she’s been doing cheering and stunt for 12 years, but has only done stunt as a skill and not competitively.
“I think it’s going to be a mix of things,” she said. “In some ways it’s going to be easier and some ways it’s going to be harder. For stunt, it’s going to take a lot more team sportsman stuff. It’s going to be more physically time-consuming because we have to go in for lifts and everything. With school cheer, it’s a little easier for me because I have so much experience with cheer. Since stunt is a little bit different from school cheer and competition cheer, then I can adjust how I need to.”
Wilhelm is looking forward to the experience of attending college.
“I’m really looking forward to the faith base because Malone is a private Christian college, so I’m really looking forward to grow my faith,” she said. “I’m super-excited to get to know my teammates and I’ve seen all their recruits that they’ve brought in for my upcoming year as well. They just looked so kind. I went to one of Malone’s clinics and most of the girls there committed to Malone and I got along with the girls there well, so I’m just really excited to bond with my teammates.”
Wilhelm is hoping that her competing in stunt at college can help inspire other cheerleaders to expand their horizons.
“I’m hoping just to inspire other girls who are looking into college,” she said. “Because stunt is so brand new even in college sports, I’m looking to inspire some school cheer or competitive cheer girls to join stunt because it’s something very cool and it’s something I think more people need to get involved with.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
