After one year working as an assistant cheerleading coach at the University of Utah, Kelly Clark will return to the Tooele County School District as the first cheerleading coach at Stansbury High School.

Clark worked from 2000 to 2006 as the cheer coach at Grantsville High School before taking the coaching position at the U.

“I always thought that I would like working on the college level, but it’s a whole different animal,” Clark said. “Coaching cheereading in college is more like a public relations or marketing job for the school. You get to work more with individuals and make more of an impact at the high school level,” Clark said. Stansbury High School is also closer to her home in Grantsville. “There wasn’t a job available in Grantsville so I applied for the job at Stansbury,” she said.

Clark is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and with a degree in chemistry made the trip to Utah to take a job at USPCI. While working at USPCI she met her husband — whose name is also Kelly Clark of Grantsville — who will help coach football at Stansbury High this year.

Clark also has been running the All-Star Cheer Group at Ken’s Gymnastics in Grantsville the past two years.

“I’ve been cheering since the fifth grade. I cheered on the junior varsity cheerleading squad my freshman year at Louisiana Tech and cheered three years on the varsity squad,” Clark said.

She’s excited about the opportunity to guide the first cheerleaders at a new school.

“It will be an opportunity for the cheerleaders to help create things for the first time such as helping with a new school song and creating new cheers. We’ll be setting new traditions. As a cheerleading squad we also want to connect with a charity, perhaps work with grandparents and not only help them through donations but also be personally acquainted with those we serve,” Clark said.

A cheerleading clinic is set for Monday, April 20 at 4 p.m. at Clarke N. Johnson Jr. High School. A mandatory parents meeting is set for Wednesday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the junior high school with tryouts beginning on Thursday, April 23 at 3:30 p.m.

Eligible candidates include those currently enrolled at a Tooele County high schools or junior high schools who plan to attend Stansbury High School in the fall of 2009. If a candidate has already tried out for another squad in the district for the upcoming school year, they are ineligible to try out for the squad at SHS. Participants must have a minimum third term GPA of 2.5.

A total of 16 varsity cheerleaders and 12 junior varsity cheerleaders will be selected.

Clark said those who make the team will go through a summer conditioning program of three hours per day during the month of June and will start back again in August with two-a-day workouts.

For questions contact Clark at (435) 830-6006.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com