A Closer Look - Season 2 (Rebecca Baxa & Shannon Karn)
Freshmen Rebecca Baxa and Shannon Karn have known each other their entire lives. Being close with one another helped ease the transition from cousins to competitive cheerleaders at USC Aiken.
Baxa and Karn are cousins – the first set of cousins to be under the direction of head coach Lauren Lombardo.
“I cheered since I was five years old,” Karn said. “It started with the youth rec leagues. At 10, I started cheering for an all-star team, ACX, and competed with them through high school once my family moved to South Carolina from Pittsburgh.”
Baxa started cheering in eighth grade since her cousin had been a cheerleader for a few years.
“When Shannon started cheering, I wanted to follow in her footsteps,” Baxa stated. “I cheered all the way through high school. I had been interested in cheering before eighth grade, but I was previously busy with dance, including ballet, tap and jazz.”
Baxa toured USC Aiken during her senior year at Chapin H.S. and fell in love with the school. After Baxa had a great experience, she told Karn, who set up a tour and also had a great time. Karn wanted to pursue the nursing program and thought it would be a good fit.
At that point of their senior years, neither thought about cheering at USC Aiken. However, after basketball season ended in the spring of 2015, Karn attended an open practice and spoke to Lombardo about the team.
Although Baxa couldn’t attend the first open practice, both went to the second one and set their eyes on being part of the cheerleading team as freshmen. The plan, in theory was fine, but there were some difficult moments along the way.
Karn, used to competing with ACX, traveled all over the United States and did not cheer for her high school. It might not seem like much of a problem, but Karn had to adjust to cheering and not just being part of a competitive team.
“I can tumble, but not as well as Rebecca,” Karn said. “I was scared I wouldn’t have enough tumbling experience. After tryouts, I wrote everyone’s names down and rated them to see if I had a chance of making the team.”
However, both made the squad and have put a lot of time and effort into the team this season.
“It has been stressful and time consuming, but we love it,” Baxa said. “I love the basketball games and Shannon had never watched basketball before this season.”
Now, their attention has turned from not only perfecting their skill on the sidelines, but also with prep for the upcoming Peach Belt Conference Tournament where they can compete.
“It is exciting for me,” Karn said. “Being part of a competitive team is exciting and new at USC Aiken and we have worked hard while trying to reach our goals.”
“We plan to cheer all four years and want to improve over the rest of our time here,” Baxa stated. Being close on-and-off the court has helped the two make the transition to collegiate cheerleading – and now the two will be side-by-side while competing, which should be no problem for the two cousins.
