SAND ROCK – It hasn’t been anything new for Sand Rock cheerleading coach Lisa Burt to see her cheerleaders go on to the collegiate level. She estimates she’s had 15 students go on to cheer collegiately in 17 years at the school.

On Tuesday, the latest two cheerleaders Burt has taught were added to that list.

Tabitha Abernathy signed a scholarship to cheer at Jacksonville State University, while Kayla Rutledge inked with Gadsden State Community College at a signing party in the school gym. Burt said Abernathy and Rutledge are “two of my best I’ve had come through.”

“I’m excited to see both of them be able to go on and get the college experience,” Burt said. “They have worked so hard over the years, as far as putting in the extra time in gymnastics and the extra commitment.

They’re not only fundamentally good, but they’re good cheerleaders, which is what you want at any level.”

Abernathy said she discovered she wanted to cheer collegiately early in her varsity career, and she wanted to do everything she could to make it happen.

Now that it has, Abernathy said signing on the dotted line with JSU was a little surreal.

“I knew I wanted to do this, but I never thought it would actually happen,” she said. “I’m thrilled, but I’m really sad about leaving my friends and teammates behind. I think it’s good though that I’ll be able to come home if I ever need anything. My parents will be there, and Mrs. Burt will be there. I’m just excited about moving on to something new.”

Rutledge shares the same nervousness about moving on to Gadsden State. She said she discovered her passion to cheer in the sixth grade, but little did she realize it would lead to a college scholarship.

“I had no idea what to expect then, because I always watched them on the sidelines,” Rutledge said. “Whenever I tried out and made it, I loved it. It was a lot of fun, but now I’m really nervous because I really don’t want to give up high school. It’s just an ending of one thing to start a new beginning.”

Both Abernathy and Rutledge praised Burt for getting them prepared for this point in their lives.

“Mrs. Burt helped me so much,” Abernathy said. “I was not prepared at all to begin with, but she taught me everything I needed to do and really helped me. I owe all of that to her.”

Added Rutledge: “She’s a great coach, and has always been there for me – not just as a coach, but as someone I could talk to if I couldn’t talk to anyone else.”

Burt said she’s proud to see Abernathy and Rutledge continue doing something they both love.

“They both have a lot of natural ability, and they have that personality to go along with that,” Burt said. “They’ve both made a lot of extra commitment on top of our practices. To be able to go to that level, you just can’t go and cheer. You have to bring the other things to it, and they were both willing to do that extra work and have the extra commitment.

“They’ve worked hard, and I’m glad good things are going to happen for them. They’re both real excited, and I am too.”