“I already know I can do it. I know I’m here for a reason. I can do it.”

These words are part of the force that Madison Cline uses to lift her stunt partner up and face the roaring football crowd. Basing in a partner stunt is a heavily male-dominated skill, but Cline achieves it every time with practiced confidence. 

Cline, a sophomore biology major, has been in cheer since she was 6-years-old. Now 20, she is playing out her 14th season.

Cline said she joined a gymnastics program around age six, housed in the same building as a cheer group. As time passed, she garnered more interest in the older cheer girls. They could flip and throw people in the air, a feat that sparked overt fascination in young Cline. Her admiration became so apparent that gymnastics was forgotten entirely. Once her mom realized she wanted to cheer, Cline became a cheerleader. 

Since then, cheering for WSU has been her goal.

Cline said she kept a letter from seventh grade where she had written about her excitement to be exactly where she is today.

“Obviously there was a point where I was learning things,” Cline said. “I just wanted to try it and keep working on it. I was inspired to do what I can.”

Cline discovered she could do a lot. With every passing season, she adds more skills to her arsenal, and this year is no different.

The coaches for WSU’s Spirit Squad have freshly decided to switch from the more common group stunts, in which three or four athletes are beneath a flyer, to partner stunts, where a single athlete is beneath a flyer.

“It was really just bringing back tradition of what Washington State was for many years. It’s a more collegiate-based skill, at least in the area,” said head cheer coach Emily Peterson.

For most girls on the team who held the flyer position, the expectations have not changed much, but the same could not be said for Cline.

“Group stunts were definitely easier for me since I had done it my whole life,” Cline said. “But with co-ed stunting and basing… that was definitely a challenge. But I just asked coach Emily, ‘Hey, can I try this one day?’ and she never said no, so I never thought I couldn’t.”

So far, Cline is the only female athlete to achieve basing a partner stunt on the field in recent years. 

“The second she knew that partner stunts was going to be required, she was excited to prove herself and put herself up against these guys that are performing the same stuff,” Peterson said. “She’s an extremely hard worker. She took the challenge and was excited about it.”

As sideline stunts evolve with the season, so do the athletes. Cline continues to progress further from her triumph as a partner stunt base.

Her dedication to her team and putting up new skills is something admired not only by her coach and onlookers but by her fellow cheer athletes.

WSU freshman cheerleader Luca Risse said he immediately found something worth looking up to in Cline.

“Something about her is she’s always just willing to get better,” Risse said. “She struggles, but then she takes that and gets better. Being able to do a partner stunt as a female athlete is probably one of the hardest things and her strength stands out.”

The cheer team this year is heavily freshman-dominated and with so many new incoming athletes, there was a lot of need for leadership on the squad. Cline said she stepped up to that plate. Being a role model and lifting other people up were some of her goals for the season.

“At one practice, I was struggling with a stunt, and I remember she said ‘Even though it may be hard you just gotta get her up and keep trying,'” Risse said. “She may be struggling in a stunt, but she wants to make sure that everyone has the same support all around.”

What Cline does on the sidelines of Saturday football games is not easy. She said some moments are especially hard, given a lot of her male peers have been doing these stunts for four years and she is still learning. Regardless, her main doctrine is to take advice from those around her and continue trying new things with confidence and excitement.