Ohio State Cheerleaders Julia Aepli, Allissa Thornton, Keyli Smith, Braden DeLullo, Bryden Penhorwood and Alex Tada stand together to celebrate their fourth-place finish at the 2019 UCA Nationals. Credit: Courtesy of Julia Aepli
For Ohio State’s cheerleading team, game days in Ohio Stadium are a staple of their season: from appearing at tailgates to stunting in front of St. John Arena before kickoff, the team is an essential aspect of the game day experience.
Unfortunately, “essential” in the COVID-19 era is synonymous with masks and social distancing, not pompoms and megaphones. The team was not permitted to attend any 2020 game day festivities due to health and safety guidelines.
“It was really difficult for us and it was really hard not being where we wanted to be because that’s where we feel like we belong, and we feel like we thrive,” junior cheerleader Julia Aepli said. “We really tried to focus on the positives, and just focused on staying in shape and staying healthy.”
Despite the disappointment of not being in the ’Shoe, the team continued to work, lifting and practicing with guidelines in place. Although they didn’t receive clearance to perform until the spring game, they earned something else — five honorees in the inaugural Big Ten All-Conference teams and awards.
Juniors Allissa Thornton, Keyli Smith and Braden DeLullo were named to the conference first team and sophomore Alex Markley was named to the second team. Aepli received the biggest accolade, earning the Athlete of the Year title for all coed teams. She also made the academic team and first team.
“It was the first time we’ve ever had a Big Ten award ceremony and I knew I was nominated, but I had no idea that it was possible to get Athlete of the Year, so that was a big shock to me,” Aepli said. “I was really surprised but, so honored to be the first one, especially at Ohio State. I really couldn’t have done it without my teammates and my coaches.”
The Dublin, Ohio, native said that winning these awards during a normal year would have been special, but receiving them during such an abnormal season made the honor even more of a privilege.
“It was so exciting because it was the first one so no one really knew how it was going to go and just seeing my teammates be rewarded for their successes just made it so much more sweet,” Aepli said. “Even though this year was a little bit abnormal, it was cool that we still were able to be recognized and rewarded.”
Head coach Ben Schreiber said these awards had been in the works for some time, but 2020 presented the coaches of the Big Ten with the downtime to set everything in stone.
“Everyone that was nominated collected film and footage of themselves, and then all of the other coaches in the conference essentially took some time to be the voting panel, and everyone went through everyone’s videos and ranked them,” Schreiber said. “You did not rank your own athletes and a neutral person tallied everything up.”
The team has a long history of acclaim, placing within the top four at the Universal Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Nationals every year since 2018. Unfortunately, the squad will not make its annual trip to Orlando this year — but, naturally, they’re already preparing for next year.
“Our coach says that we can see this season as a pre-preseason,” Aepli said. “Our seniors aren’t working with us right now because they’re graduating, so we have three classes right now and we’re just waiting for the new freshmen to come in.”
The class of 2021 will bring eight new cheerleaders to the squad. Schreiber said that he is looking forward to working with both the old and new members, especially since all five Big Ten honorees are returning next year.
“I think what’s really exciting is that none of them are seniors and that they have at least one more year — maybe stretch it out a little bit to potentially compete one more time — but just knowing that we’re still kind of young and we have a bright future ahead of us,” Schreiber said.
Although the cheer squad never saw the field or court in 2020, they chose not to focus on the past and instead looked ahead. Both Aepli and Schreiber said the team is eager to get back into their normal game day routine and try their hand at another nationals appearance.
“My hope is to just keep grinding, keep going,” Aepli said. “This year was hard, but that doesn’t mean next year has to be. I want to make sure that my teammates and I are doing everything we can to be one percent better every day — I am going to work for them and I know they’re going to work for me.”
