Rah! Rah! Rah! 16-Year-Old Texas Cheerleader Sets the Back Handspring World Record

Miranda Ferguson, a 16-year-old high school junior from Dallas, Texas, broke the Guinness world record for the largest number of consecutive back handsprings last week when, during a football halftime show, she completed 35 back handsprings, beating the previous record of 32. This isn’t the first time Ferguson has wowed crowds with her back handspring skills — last football season, she completed 20, then after learning that she was only 12 off from the world record (and that’s without trying to beat it), set her sights on a new goal.

“Really just the fans out there really helped me get through it,” Ferguson said of her record-breaking turn. The exuberant crowd counted along as she completed her back handsprings and cheered her on as she began to visibly tire before eventually meeting her (extraordinary) limit: “I was really nervous that if I did one more that I was just going to fall, so I was like, ‘I’m going to stay at 35. I got this.”‘

And how’d she feel in the light of her victory? Proud, but a little in pain: “My head isn’t too bad, but my back is kind of sore. I’m sure I’m going to feel it tomorrow.”