Jadyn Singleton can usually be seen running, jumping, or tumbling. Rarely is the Savannah Christian Prep star athlete sitting still. She’s a state champion long-jumper and a champion sprinter for the SCPS track and field team. The senior is also a standout in cheerleading, both on the sideline and in competitive cheer.
Singleton was named the 2023 Georgia Cheerleading Coaches Association (GCCA) Cheerleader of the Year for Classes 1A-4A. She guided her SCPS competitive cheerleading squad to a runner-up finish at the 2023 GHSA Class 3A State Championships. In May 2024, she won the Class 3A State Championship in the triple-jump.
Now, she has been named the 2024 Best Local Athlete.
Singleton sat down with Connect Savannah to talk about her achievements, including winning Best of Savannah.
“It means a lot to me. The athletes in Savannah are so good, and from all these different sports, all of them are just so good,” she said. “I’m excited to be the one people picked. It means a lot and I have a lot of people to thank for all of the success we’ve had (at SCPS).”
Singleton has come to know the feeling of success pretty well over the years. Besides being an honors student at SCPS, she has excelled in cheer and track. Which is her favorite? Good luck getting her to pick just one.
“I don't know. I don't have a favorite,” she said. “ I think it depends on the day. I definitely think the nerves are the same on game days. I do two different sports, and they are different but I really love them both. I do cheerleading, which involves all-star cheerleading, gameday cheerleading, competitions and sidelines (during football games). And then I also do track and field. I started, and my first (sport) was all-star cheerleading when I was six years old, so that’s my first love.”
She began competitive cheerleading with the Savannah Sharks organization and hasn’t stopped since.
“I've been there since I was six until now,” Singleton says. “So, obviously, that’s a long time. I've had the same coaches mostly since I started there too: Megan Yarbrough and Timothy Bryant. They've been amazing role models in my life, not only teaching me cheerleading, but also life lessons that I will take with me as I go on into life. I can’t thank them enough really.”
As a junior in 2023, she won a Class 3A state title in the long jump with a leap of 18-6.5. In April, Singleton shined at the South Effingham Invitational with her SCPS track and field team. She took first place in the 100 meter dash (12.31 seconds) finishing atop 30 other runners. She also won first place in long jump (17-8.5) and second place in the triple jump (34-9.5).
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People don’t need to be taught about the difficulties of track and field events. Those are more accepted, in some circles, than events in competitive cheerleading.
But Singleton says it’s much more than what the public usually thinks. Cheerleading is as difficult as any sport, she says.
“It's crazy. People think cheerleading is just the actual sideline cheerleading for (football or basketball) games,” said Singleton. “But there's so much more to it than that. Just the life lessons I've learned, and the friendships that are never going to go away. And the coaches, any of my coaches from Savannah Christian and Tim and Megan, I can see myself calling them in 20 years and we can pick right back up where we left off.”
Of course, Jadyn’s parents have played a big role in her success story, too. She doesn’t forget them when listing her influences.
“They are extremely supportive,” she says of her parents, Margie and Jason. “They support anything that I want to do and everything I want to do. They both work jobs, but they still go above and beyond to make sure that I have everything that I need. Between training, uniforms, getting there on time, just anything. I'm really grateful for my parents, and just the way that they've supported me and the way they will also push me.”
Limited amount of event tickets available for the Best of Savannah Awards Event!
https://events.connectsavannah.com/event/best-of-savannah-2024/
