Senior twins Alexx and Amanda Montanez have been selected to cheer for the University of Texas in the fall of 2017. Although both girls will be cheering on the Longhorns from the sidelines, Alexx has chosen the route of the all-girl cheer squad, while Amanda will take part on the coed squad. Both girls had to try out for the squads, which consisted of being evaluated on their physical cheer skills like stunts and tumbling and learning the Longhorn fight song.

“Tryouts were intense and nerve-wracking,” Amanda said. “Before I tried out, I had to submit a video of my skills and of me cheering along with a medical packet and a cover letter. The actual tryout was a two day process, and after the first day, the coaches and captains chose who made it back to the second day for standing tumbling, when we had to do two sets of five tucks in a row. For running tumbling, everyone did their best skills. For stunts, rookie girls stunted with vet guys and vet girls stunted with rookie guys. We all did basic stunts and progressed to harder stunts. As a separate part of the tryout room, the girls that made it back to the second day had to do two interviews, one with the coaches and head captains, and the other with the co-captains. They asked me goofy and serious questions, and I think I was shaking the whole time, but I had to keep a smile on my face as if I was talking to strangers at an appearance.”

The decision to continue to pursue cheer in college was an obvious choice for the twins as cheer is something that has greatly impacted their lives.

“I started cheering my junior year of high school,” Alexx said. “I knew I wanted to keep going. As soon as I went to my first football game, I fell in love with cheer. I wanted to continue cheering because I love game days and UT football is just awesome. I am still a newcomer, considering most of the girls on the team have been doing it since they were toddlers.”

UT is a member of the Big 12 conference and also a Division 1 school, which is the highest athletic classification through the National Collegiate Athletic Association .

“Cheerleading is the most fun sport I’ve been a part of,” Amanda said. “It is physically challenging, so it keeps me in shape. I thought it would be awesome and incredibly cool to be able to cheer on the football team at a D1 school. To call myself a D1 athlete is a dream come true. I’m so, so blessed that God made this possible and I still can’t believe it.”

Both girls have something that they are looking forward to this fall when they will enroll as not only UT students, but UT athletes.

“I am most excited to be a part of the Texas tradition,” Alexx said. “I feel that UT has a lot to offer and cheer is a great way to be involved in the school. I am so pumped just to cheer on all the athletes at multiple events. I also get a pretty good view of DKR (Darrell K Royal stadium).”

The DKR stadium has been home to the Longhorns since 1924 and is able to hold 100,119 people.

“I’m really excited to perform in front of a hundred thousand people,” Amanda said. “I’ve never been in front of that many people. I am also really excited to be a part of something so involved in the University. Being able to represent my school is an honor and a dream come true. I can’t wait to meet all my new friends and hopefully some of my lifelong friends.”