A second Lowry High School cheerleader will be taking the next step to a Division I university, as Ryan Rasmussen will be a part of the cheerleading team for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz.
Grand Canyon is one of the newest schools to join the Western Athletic Conference, after the recent shuffling of schools to different conferences throughout the nation. The only sport that Grand Canyon does not field is football.
“I was looking at Grand Canyon as a school in general,” Rasmussen said. “I came to find out that they were moving to two squads next year and that opened up opportunities for me.”
Grand Canyon has an all-girls squad of 22 members and a co-ed squad of 18.
“I didn’t think about college cheer until last year after tryouts,” Rasmussen said. “I’ve been working toward making a college cheer team. I never though about going to Arizona for school. It all worked out. The best thing was the weather. It is always warm. The school is not bad either. They are one of the better education programs on the West Coast.”
He originally was thinking about going to school in Washington, but Rasmussen said schools in Arizona had better scholarship offers on the academic side.
Despite not having a football program at Grand Canyon, Rasmussen will stay busy cheering at football, volleyball, soccer and lacrosse games. In addition, the cheerleaders make a number of appearances throughout the area.
“I am still going to stay pretty busy,” he said. “I am excited about what the future holds.”
Rasmussen noted that the tryout process was a long one with cuts within the first hour of the first day. As tryouts went into the second day, the new members were notified if they made the team until around midnight. Parts of the process were a 30-minute one-on-one interview and a lot of how everyone interacted with each other.
“It seemed like it took forever,” Rasmussen said. “I fell asleep by the time I finally got the email. I woke up about 4 a.m. and I looked at my email and went, ‘Oh, I have to go on the retreat today.’”
Rasmussen has been a big part of Lowry High School cheerleading. Last summer, Rasmussen was named an All-American during camp over the summer. Last year he traveled to Orlando as part of Disney Christmas Parade.
“My mind changed quite a bit when I went down to Florida,” Rasmussen said. “There were so many cheerleaders there. It was a different experience. Everyone there was high caliber. You had to compete to get a spot in the parade. Being around everyone and knowing a lot of them were going to be college cheerleaders made me try to be better. If I can compete against them, I can make a college cheer team.”
Rasmussen also spent time at Weber State, where his cousin is a part of the team and he noted he was able to keep up well with what they were doing, adding to his confidence that he could make a college cheer team.
Rasmussen will get see different parts of the country making trips to California and the West as part of the conference schedule. The Grand Canyon basketball team will also make trips to West Virginia, Louisville, USC, Gonzaga and San Diego State.
Rasmussen plans to study nursing or secondary education at Grand Canyon. He will be on scholarship as part of making the squad, but he must make the team every year for that scholarship to be renewed.
“It should be fun,” he said. “It will be a different change of pace. I am excited about USA Nationals next year.”
