Seated from left, Delesa Greene, grandmother; Dean Locke, father; Katelyn Locke; Chesa Dyer, mother; and Beckham Dyer, brother. Standing: Ralph Greene, grandfather; NWHS cheer coach Shara Cook; Dalton State coach Robyn Newell; and NWHS cheer coach Mandy Crossen.
Dalton State cheer coach Robyn Newell is continuing to place emphasis on northwest Georgia as she builds both a competition and spirit cheer squad for the school’s first four-year athletics program.
Northwest Whitfield’s Katelyn Locke, 18, held her signing party in the lobby of the Bruin’s gym Tuesday. Newell calls Locke “an awesome cheerleader.”
“I’m excited about being on the first Dalton State College competition cheerleading team,” Locke said. “Being a part of building this new program will give me a lot of opportunities in the Dalton/Whitfield community.”
Newell likes Locke’s abilities. “Katelyn is an incredible flyer and she is a great power tumbler,” Newell said of her newest signee. “I recognized her flexibility and her strengths immediately.”
“She is wonderful at coed stunting,” Newell said. “She is just in the beginning stages of working with a coed partner, but she is picking it up really quickly.”
Locke has been a football and competition cheerleader during all four years of high school. The Bruin varsity made it to the Sweet 16 of the 2012 Georgia High School Cheerleading. Locke was the team’s “Flying Award” winner.
The NWHS honor graduate is a scholar athlete, a winner of the presidential service award, and A-B honors. In addition, she received a Kiwanis-United Way Volunteer Award.
Katelyn is the daughter of Chesa Dyer and Dean Locke of Tunnel Hill. Her brother, Beckham Dyer, is 4.