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Addi Smith was integral to her cheer team.
The 11-year-old West Jordan girl was a tumbler, a base, a backspot and everything in between. She was eager to get better at her sport, dedicating extra time in the gym and taking private lessons whenever possible.
“Every position on that team, if we needed someone, Addi was the girl that was like, ‘Oh, I can do that,’” her coach, Seth Wayman, said. “She never feared away from trying something new.”
Wayman, the head coach of the prep team at Utah Xtreme Cheer, was in Las Vegas this past weekend for his team’s big out-of-state competition. When Smith didn’t show up on Sunday, he knew something was wrong.
Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, died in Nevada over the weekend in what police said was an apparent murder-suicide at the Rio Hotel and Casino. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police stated that the mother shot and killed Smith before shooting herself in their hotel room, according to a news release.
Xtreme Cheer confirmed that Addi died in a Facebook post on Sunday night, stating they are “completely heartbroken” and that “no words do the situation justice.” All classes have been canceled at the gym for the remainder of the week.
Smith was one of 13 girls on Wayman’s prep team, which he said serves as an introduction to cheerleading. The team has girls as young as 9 and as old as 14.
Aside from her athletic dedication, Smith also played the role of “hype man,” according to her coach, someone who helped “brighten up” the team’s overall dynamic.
“She always had this sense when someone was feeling down on themselves or were having a rough day, and she always seemed to just kind of know and take them under her wing,” Wayman said.
“Addi was a coach’s dream,” Wayman said. “Coaches, few and far between, we get athletes of that age that just perform and know what to do and ask questions when needed.”
Wayman said Smith also never argued and took feedback in stride.
“Addi was a phenomenal, phenomenal athlete. She always wanted to be the best version of herself she possibly could be,” he said.
Kory Uyetake, who co-owns Utah Xtreme Cheer alongside his wife, Morgan, echoed Wayman’s tribute to Addi.
“She was always doing stuff that she didn’t need to be doing necessarily. She did it without being asked [and] with only positivity,” Uyetake said.
The couple opened Xtreme Cheer in West Jordan in 2008. In 2024, the gym was home to more than 120 athletes.
Uyetake was in Atlanta this past weekend for another competition. When he got word that Smith hadn’t shown up, he said he found it “very alarming.”
“Cheerleading was her life,” Uyetake said. “Cheer was her definition and she lived it fully.”
Greg Smith, Addi’s uncle, has started a GoFundMe to support Smith’s father and stepmother with funeral expenses.
“My brother Brad is facing an unimaginable loss after his daughter Addi was tragically taken from our family. This heartbreaking event has left the family in deep shock and grief, struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of Addi in such a way,” Greg wrote.