GENTRY -- After moving to Gentry from Illinois as an eighth grader with no cheerleading experience, Sophia Asencio-Porter finished her high school years in Gentry as a top cheerleader, winning numerous awards, and has now signed a scholarship agreement with the University of Arkansas in Ft. Smith to attend there in the fall and continue as a cheerleader for the Lions as a member of the Ft. Smith cheer squad.
In her freshman year, Asensio-Porter was a member of Gentry's first team to go to national competiton in Orlando, Fla. This year, as a senior at Gentry High School, she was named to All-State Cheer, in spite of a knee injury she suffered during the competition season.
She won the Top Gun Jumper Award at the National Cheerleaders Association performance camp in Hot Springs last summer. She took first place in jumps out of approximately 375 campers at the NCA event.
In addition, she placed in the top eight in the tumbling competion and was selected to try out to be on the NCA staff this summer -- and she was successful. She will be training in Florida and be an instructor at cheer camps around the country over the summer months before attending UAFS in the fall.
Joni Wilson was Asencio-Porter's cheer coach in Gentry. Wilson said UAFS was fourth in national competition and fifth this year. She expects the squad to make at least third with Sophia's help next fall.
Sports on 05/14/2014