Cheer Team Honors Former Teammate Maddy McInerney

In the wake of the recent death of junior Madelynn McInerney, the LHS cheerleaders commemorated McInerney’s time as a cheerleader on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

Many of McInerney’s former teammates and friends gathered in the cafeteria before the varsity boys basketball game for one last celebration of McInerney’s life. Varsity cheerleading coach Erin Vance began the night by commenting on McInerney’s role in the sport.

“I only got to meet her a few times, but she obviously made a huge impact on the cheerleading program,” Vance stated. She then passed it on to JV coach Kristina Maestranzi, who coached McInerney, to expand on the topic.

“She did everything at a 10. She did cheerleading at a 10. She loved her friends at a 10. There were no halves with her,” Maestranzi said, after retelling stories of some of McInerney’s first stunts in cheerleading. “And it was her love for the sport that caused her to leave it.” Maestranzi then went on to say when McInerney was first diagnosed with cancer, she decided not to continue with the sport because she couldn’t watch others do what she no longer could.

The coaches then played a 10-minute long video illustrating pictures and videos of McInerney’s life as a cheerleader and the friends she kept beside her.

Following the video, Maestranzi took the floor one last time to give McInerney’s family her cheerleading uniform and the MVP award McInerney received for her courageous attitude.

“The MVP award goes to someone who was passionate and always supported their team, and that was McInerney,” Maestranzi said with tears in her eyes. She proceeded to give the gifts to McInerney’s father.

Following this event, McInerney’s friends and family gathered in the gym, where the varsity basketball game started with a moment of silence for McInerney. As they stood underneath the American flag in their “Stand Together” t-shirts, McInerney’s former teammates linked arms and stood as one in her memory.