NEXT LEVEL: Justus Day (left) and Marley Bradley, both Cherokee High School seniors, signed college letters of intent in a ceremony at the Cherokee High School Fieldhouse on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 30. Day will play basketball at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, and Bradley will join the cheerleading team at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Ga. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
Cherokee High School seniors Marley Bradley and Justus Day both signed letters of intent to continue their sports careers at the next level. In a ceremony in the Cherokee High School Fieldhouse on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 30, Bradley signed to the cheerleading squad at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Ga. and Day signed to play basketball at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory.
“It’s exciting,” said Bradley who has been cheering since the age of 3. “At some point, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to cheer in college, but then I got the opportunity and I’m overwhelmed.”
She plans to study international business at Young Harris.
Madison Crowe, Lady Braves head cheerleading coach, commented, “As a coach, this is the pinnacle of coaching, and that’s the reason that you do coach is to send athletes to the next level. Marley has left her legacy on Cherokee High School…she is a part of the national championship cheerleading squad that we have here at Cherokee Central Schools – the first squad to ever accomplish that. She’s awesome. She will be a pleasure to coach.”
Crowe noted this will have positive effects for the Cherokee cheer program. “I think this is a stepping stone. She has laid the foundation for them to build upon, and hopefully we send more and more every single year.”
Peanut Crowe, Cherokee Central Schools athletic director, commented, “These are two good athletes right here. As for Justus, as some of the coaches in the conference said, he is an ACC talent…he’ll go to Catawba Valley and spend a couple of years there and then hopefully we’ll see him play at Wake Forest or North Carolina State. Catawba Valley is a feeding program for those two schools.”
Day, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who started playing basketball in the seventh grade, played several years in high school in Mississippi. Of signing, he commented, “I’m excited. I can’t wait.”
He said he does plan to transfer to a Division I school after his two years at Catawba Valley. In his senior season at Cherokee, he played in 10 games due to an injury, but he managed to score 140 points (14pts/game) and grab 34 rebounds (3.4/gm) and was named to the All-Smoky Mountain Conference team.
Aaron Hogner, Braves head basketball coach, commented on Day, “I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him, but the few times that we really did get to talk, I was impressed with his maturity. We had a lot of good conversations about the game and about his future.”
He spoke to several college coaches about Day. “With the little bit that they got to see him play this year and seeing game film from his sophomore year, they were really impressed. This is a kid that has a lot of talent and has set the bar really high for athletes that come to this school.”
To view or purchase photos from this event, visit: https://onefeather.smugmug.com/SPORTS/MISC/Marley-Bradley-Justus-Day-signing-May-30/
