17-Year-Old North Carolina Cheerleader Suffers Heart Attack And Is Saved By Mom
For years I’ve heard the argument, “Cheerleading isn’t a sport.” This is, of course, ridiculous. When I worked in Birmingham, on Friday nights I did live work on TV at…
For years I've heard the argument, "Cheerleading isn't a sport." This is, of course, ridiculous. When I worked in Birmingham, on Friday nights I did live work on TV at high school football games. One of the most prominent teams there (and in the nation, they had their own reality show) at the time was Hoover High School. I was there for game one. Their cheerleaders were beautiful and 100% healthy. I was also there for the last game of the season when their cheerleaders looked worse for wear than the football team. Knee braces and splints were as prevalent as smiles on the squad. The wear and tear of modern cheerleading is no joke. And that statement was unfortunately further punctuated this weekend.
Keianna Joe is a resident of Hartnett County. She is a seventeen-year-old member of a competitive cheerleading squad. According to WRAL, Keianna was warming up for a competition this past weekend in Broughton when she went into cardiac arrest. As others around her were understandably in panic mode around the unresponsive Keianna, her mother, Andrea Joe, lept into action, performing CPR on her daughter. "I had done two sets of compressions and breaths," she said. "I had looked over and toward my left side, and I finally saw that the AED machine had arrived."
Andrea then used the portable defibrillator to shock her daughter's heart back, and continued CPR until paramedics arrived. Keianna survived and is now recovering at Duke Medical Center. How about a cheer for Andrea Joe. Not too many moms can say their gave their daughter life...twice!
These Are The 25 Best High Schools For Athletes In North Carolina
Choosing the right school for your child can feel like the most important decision in the world. It's a factor in where you purchase a home. Should you shell out the big bucks for private school education? How can you set your child up for success? So many parents stress about these decisions for years and years. And when your child is an athlete, regardless of it they are looking to play in college, that makes the decision that much harder. If your child has the potential to be a college athlete and potentially get a scholarship, you want to make sure they are in the best place possible to develop their skills and get noticed. Even if they are in it for fun, you still want them to have good coaches, and facilities and winning is nice too! How do you know the best High Schools for athletes in the state of North Carolina? Of course, you can look at the success of a specific team or program. State championships and players signed to college programs are certainly a reflection.
But we want to help you narrow it down. And Niche.com is here to help with rankings of schools and universities across the country. They recently released their 2023 rankings of schools. This includes K-12 as well as higher education. You can play around with the filters and view the rankings based on a variety of factors. One of those is a listing of the best high schools in for athletes in North Carolina. Which schools topped the list? Let's find out.
For this list, we are including public, private, and charter schools. And the overwhelming majority are actually public schools! Though the top 2 are private with one being in Charlotte. But where did these rankings come from you may ask? According to Niche:
If you're looking for the best school to send your athlete to hopefully this list will help you narrow it down. These are the 25 best schools in North Carolina for athletes.
25. James B. Dudley High School
District: Guilford County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Greensboro, NC
Division: 4A (All-Metro)
Total Number of Sports: 17
24. Jacksonville High School
District: Onslow County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Jacksonville, NC
Division: 3A (Big Carolina)
Total Number of Sports: 22
23. Wilkes Central High School
District: Wilkes County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Wilkesboro, NC
Division: 2A (Foothills)
Total Number of Sports: 19
22. Page High School
District: Guilford County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Greensboro, NC
Division: 4A (Metro)
Total Number of Sports: 24
21. Southeast Guilford High School
District: Guilford County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Greensboro, NC
Division: 4A (Metro)
Total Number of Sports: 23
20. West Forsyth High School
District: Forsyth County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Division: 4A (Central Piedmont)
Total Number of Sports: 12
19. Hibriten High School
District: Caldwell County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Lenoir
Division: 3A (Northwestern)
Total Number of Sports: 11
18. Mount Tabor High School
District: Forsyth County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Winston-Salem
Division: 4A (Central Piedmont)
Total Number of Sports: 14
17. North Davidson High School
District: Davidson County School
Type: Public
Location: Lexington
Division: 3A (Mid Piedmont)
Total Number of Sports: 9
16. Myers Park High School
District: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Type: Public
Location: Charlotte
Division: 4A (So. Meck)
Total Number of Sports: 11
15. Asheville High School
District: Asheville City Schools
Type: Public
Location: Asheville
Division: 4A (The Mountain)
Total Number of Sports: 22
14. Lincoln Charter School
District: N/A
Type: Public Charter School
Location: Lincolnton
Division: 2A (Catawba Shores)
Total Number of Sports: 21
13. Northern Guilford High School
District: Guilford County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Greensboro
Division: 4A (Metro)
Total Number of Sports: 23
12. Leesville Road High School
District: Wake County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Raleigh
Division: 4A (Cap 6)
Total Number of Sports: 25
11. South Point High School
District: Gaston County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Belmont
Division: 3A (Big South)
Total Number of Sports: 20
10. Cuthbertson High School
District: Union County Public Schools
Type: Public
Location: Waxhaw
Division: 4A (Southern California)
Total Number of Sports: 25
9. A.C. Reynolds High School
District: Buncombe County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Asheville
Division: 4A (The Mountain)
Total Number of Sports: 21
8. Mount Airy High School
District: Mount Airy City Schools
Type: Public
Location: Mount Airy
Division: 1A (Northwest)
Total Number of Sports: 20
7. Middle Creek High School
District: Wake County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Apex
Division: 4A (Southwest Wake)
Total Number of Sports: 25
6. Green Hope High School
District: Wake County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Cary
Division: 4A (Southwest Wake)
Total Number of Sports: 25
5. Marvin Ridge High School
District: Union County Public Schools
Type: Public
Location: Waxhaw
Division: 4A (Southern Carolina)
Total Number of Sports: 25
4. Wake Forest High School
District: Wake County Schools
Type: Public
Location: Wake Forest
Division: 4A (Northern Athletic)
Total Number of Sports: 25
3. Weddington High School
District: Union County Public Schools
Type: Public
Location: Weddington
Division: 4A (Southern Carolina)
Total Number of Sports: 25
2. Charlotte Catholic High School
District: N/A
Type: Private
Location: Charlotte
Division: 4A (Southwestern)
Total Number of Sports: 20
1. Cardinal Gibbons High School
District: N/A
Type: Private
Location: Raleigh
Division: 4A (Cap 6)
Total Number of Sports: 29
