{"id":25311,"date":"2024-10-18T17:38:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T23:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-cheerleader-emily-howell-signs-with-friends-university\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:14:20","slug":"panthers-cheerleader-emily-howell-signs-with-friends-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-cheerleader-emily-howell-signs-with-friends-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers cheerleader Emily Howell signs with Friends University"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez high School cheerleader Emily Howell poses with her parents and her current and future cheer coaches as she signs to continue her cheerleading career at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a memorable past 12 months for Montezuma-Cortez senior Emily Howell.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2023, the then-junior joined a Panthers cheer squad that accomplished a groundbreaking feat \u2013 qualifying for the finals of the state cheer competition. Now, with another chance to perform at one more state championship on the horizon, Howell formally committed her future in cheer to Friends University in Wichita, Kansas.<\/p>\n

The two-sport athlete \u2013 also a starting midfielder on the Panthers soccer team \u2013 wasn\u2019t sure what her future held, but settled on the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics institution while looking to continue a sport for which she\u2019s gained an affinity in the past four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a difficult decision, because my original goal was definitely to keep playing soccer,\u201d said Howell, \u201cbut it felt like God\u2019s plan, because I ended up at Friends, and after meeting with the cheer coach, I just knew that it was what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"With
With her parents watching, Montezuma-Cortes High School senior cheerleader Emily Howell signs to continue her cheerleading career at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Howell and the Panthers cheer team, competing under coach Emily Baumgartner, broke through the 3A All-Girl Cheer division late last year, taking fourth overall in the state finals. In signing with Friends, Howell broke another barrier, becoming the first Panther to officially sign to compete in cheer at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat state experience is hard to describe \u2013 it\u2019s so fun to know that our team was the first ever in school history to make it to that level,\u201d said Howell. \u201cWhen we heard our team name announced that we had made finals, my heart dropped \u2026 and to do it with my best friends was just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Montezuma-Cortez cheer team poses for a photo at the CHSAA Spirit State Championships in Denver. Emily Baumgartner\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For Howell, the journey began in her early years of gymnastics, setting the foundation for her passion and proficiency at carrying out all the mind-bending stunts as part of the cheer squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did competitive gymnastics for Gold Cup in Albuquerque and Durango,\u201d said Howell. \u201cBut after I stepped away in middle school, I started back again my freshman year because I had all the tumbling background, My strong suit is definitely my stunting and tumbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fit with Friends, as well as her capacity to pursue one of her other passions \u2013 cosmetology \u2013 seemed like a match right from the start. Learning from Baumgartner, who owns her own beauty salon in Cortez, proved to be an inspiration for Howell, and a catalyst for her postsecondary pursuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmily (Baumgartner) has been like a second mom for me \u2013 I work with her at her hair salon,\u201d said Howell.<\/p>\n

Howell also takes on a leadership role with the M-CHS soccer team, where her midfield play guided the Panthers to a pair of league titles in the past three years. While the decision to choose cheer over soccer came with trepidation, Howell looks forward to continuing to take on her passion for athletics to another level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the drive, and I love my teammates,\u201d added Howell. \u201cThey push me to be better every day \u2013 I know that they\u2019re always going to have my back, and I\u2019ll always have theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

becomes first M-CHS cheer member to ink with college cheer team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78886,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25311\/revisions\/78886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25311"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}