

Meet The Coaches

Head Coach
Ashley Hobbs
Coach Hobbs has coached cheerleading for 12 years. She was formerly the head coach at Fort Zumwalt South and then Marquette High School, leading the Marquette cheerleading program to its first State Championship in 2008! She returns to Marquette as the head coach after a brief hiatus to raise her daughter, Sophie and a year of coaching JV back in the program. Coach Hobbs loves both sideline cheerleading and competitive cheerleading.

Program Coach
Elizabeth Basta
Coach Basta has coached cheerleading for many years. She started coaching in Sarasota, Florida (hometown) for her sister’s all-star/ pop warner competition team while in high school (2000-2004), continued coaching for alma mater, Riverview, from 2004-2009. Coach Basta moved to St. Louis, her husband who is also a Marquette alum and currently coaches varsity baseball. After a few years of establishing some roots here in St. Louis she got back to coaching in the summer of 2015 at Marquette, she coached until the spring of 2020. She has two kids, Braxton (10) and Blakleigh (4). She is very excited to return to Marquette Cheer and looks forward to the year!

Junior Varsity Coach
Emily Clark
This will be Coach Clark’s 4th year coaching cheer at Marquette. Before becoming a Mustang, she coached for 1 year at the University of Missouri - St. Louis and 3 years at Affton High School. As an athlete, Coach Clark cheered throughout middle and high school, and later became a collegiate cheerleader at UMSL. Aside from cheerleading,Coach Clark was also a highly competitive figure skater for 12 years. Her competitive background gives her a unique perspective and understanding for the skills and creativity required for a competition cheerleading team. Coach Clark loves bringing her enthusiasm and passion for cheerleading to the MHS cheer program. When she is not coaching, she is molding young minds as an elementary school teacher in South St. Louis City.

Program Coach
Kate McAllister
Coach McAllister is a former Marquette Cheerleader and was a part of the first team to attend nationals. She started coaching cheerleading during college in 2016. For four years in Arkansas she worked at an all star gym assisting with team practices, teaching stunt technique to local high school and college teams, and running classes in tumbling, co-Ed stunting, jump technique, flyer technique & flexibility, and how to prepare for high school cheerleading. During that time, she was also apart of UCA staff as a summer camp instructor/head instructor and worked during the school year to teach stunt clinics. After moving back to St. Louis, Coach McAllister joined the Marquette coaching staff in 2021

Best Dog Ever
Maverick
Maverick is a medical response and prevention service dog. He assist Coach McAllister with a condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Maverick started his training in 2018 at the University of Arkansas and has since won 6 different AKC awards.