Miranda Richardson told the Forum it’s been nearly 10 years since Nucla High School had cheerleading as a sport. It’s something she’s been repeatedly asking the administration to bring back. Having cheered for Nucla in the early 2000s, the sport was a big deal back then. Her team went to the state competition and nearly won.
She’s the mom of a high school boy, and she’s already attending sporting events regularly anyway. Now, she’s thrilled to be head coach for the cheerleaders.
“We haven't had a spirit team for almost a decade, and we are very excited that we got to start up again in January of 2026,” she said, “especially since our boys and girls basketball teams had such an incredible season.”
For her, it’s important to get the crowd excited, and she said the girls have helped make that happen this winter. The new squad started out with only three cheerleaders and a mascot: Khloe Shepherd, senior at Norwood; Elexis Tooker and Nikki Daniels, freshmen at Nucla; and Kaelynn Weimar, a homeschooled freshman. But, the interest spiked, and two more girls just added in: Destiny Riley, junior at Nucla, and Savanah Williams, sophomore at Nucla.
“It's always been a dream of mine to coach cheer, and I am amazed at how far this team has come in such a short amount of time,” Richardson said. “We are excited to bring back the school spirit, pep rallies and halftime shows, and I can't wait to see what the team will accomplish next.”
She said she thinks the program will grow. She wants her girls to compete at the state level too. Also executive director of Montrose West Recreation, Richardson has been organizing and coaching younger cheer groups, the peewee and middle school girls. Now that there’s enough interest for high school cheerleading, things could expand. In fact, Richardson hopes Nucla Middle School can have its own school-sanctioned team.
It’s taken some work. The uniforms she dug out were from the 1980s. With a small budget from the athletic department, she worked hard to get new outfits, and she thanks Split Rock Printworks for their assistance in getting them finished.
Her dream now is for the girls to attend a real cheer camp this summer. Richardson said the sport has evolved in the last 20 years, and she wants Nucla to get the latest on skills, technique and more.
“I want to push them hard,” she said. “I see the potential, and I know they can do it. I want to give them the opportunity.”
And about cheerleading — she wants the community to know it doesn’t take away from female sports. In fact, she believes the girls that go out for cheerleading are not necessarily the ones that are playing volleyball or basketball. She thinks cheer gives a different group of young ladies a sport they can participate in.
She’d like to see Nucla’s cheerleaders also get exposure to dance. She said they will be weightlifting and building stamina. She said they’re already proving their endurance by cheering four games in a row during basketball season.
She plans to get certified in stunting, so her girls can lift each other and do difficult skills. Tumbling wasn’t required 20 years ago, but modern cheer incorporates it, and she’s open to having her girls tumble too.
And, cheerleading, she admitted, can keep kids out of trouble, help them maintain their eligibility with grades, and motivate them to try harder in academics.
Richardson told the Forum she’s not going anywhere. She wants to coach cheerleading in Nucla for as long as she’s able.
“It took a long time to get it back,” she said. “Let’s keep it. If I have two girls or 20, I want them out there.”
Editor’s note: This story is part of a year-long project, funded by the Greater Good Science Center’s “Spreading Love through the Media” initiative, based at University of California-Berkeley.
