Western Washington University has a new leader in the house. Madison Durkee, a fourth-year majoring in communication sciences and disorders and minoring in psychology, was recently announced as the new assistant Viking cheer coach.
Starting with the Vikings in 2023, from Grand Valley University, Durkee said she came to Western because she fell in love with it when she visited.
Joining a new team in her fourth year, Durkee had an old knee injury come back in the first half of the season that pushed her off the mat.
With her only options to either quit the team or remain without cheering, Durkee chose to stay. Durkee said she started off watching from the sidelines but eventually head coach Megan Newsted asked Durkee to help out if there were things the team could work on.
“It was an interesting time on the cheer team because I went from being an athlete ... to being injured to being off the mat. But not a coach right away," Durkee said.
Gymnastics is where she got her start but she didn't like it. Durkee said she switched to cheer in fifth grade and has been doing it ever since.
Durkee said she was very involved in leadership in high school, where she coached a few middle school teams.
“I've always loved coaching,” Durkee said. “I never thought about coaching a college-level team, because I was in college myself. And I don't think I ever would have thought about it if I hadn't gotten injured.”
Newstead has been coaching the team alone for a few years and said Durkee's drive is why she's a good fit to be her coaching partner.
“[Durkee] has a lot of passion when it comes to cheer. This is something she's invested in and wants to be a part of,” Newsted said. “She was on the team last year and has some insights into how the program runs as a cheerleader and now [she] can transfer that into the different role of being on the coaching side.”
Newsted has been coaching for the Vikings cheer team for five years, three as an assistant and volunteer coach and two as the head coach. Newsted also led the team to two national championship titles.
“I'm excited to have a partner,” Newsted said. “I'm looking forward to having somebody else to bounce ideas off of, somebody else to see different perspectives that maybe I'm not seeing right away and somebody that I trust.”
The team recently hosted tryouts for the 2024-2025 season and announced their new roster and leadership team. They have nine rookies and eight returners.
“I am excited to see what [Durkee] has in store for the upcoming season as an assistant coach. She has always had great ideas and lots of feedback for our team," said Jamilynn Cavallo, the 2024-2025 season co-captain. "I know that she will do a great job in assisting in leading our team in a positive direction."
The Vikings cheer team attends some soccer and softball games but the main place to see them is basketball and volleyball games in the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year.
Meladie Young is in her second year at Western majoring in Visual Journalism. She is a sports and recreation reporter for The Front this quarter. In her free time you can find her with her camera or watching hockey. You can reach her at meladieyoung.thefront@gmail.com.
