Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders welcome Savanna Dastrup after heartbreaking rejection nearly ended her dream

For Savanna Dastrup, becoming a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader was never a passing childhood wish. She first fell in love with the team at 14 after watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team with her mother. One failed audition could have ended that dream, but the Orem High School graduate returned stronger, earned her place and is now preparing to step onto the field in Dallas.Savanna Dastrup turns Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders rejection into motivationDastrup knows better than most that making the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders requires more than talent. It demands discipline, resilience and the willingness to keep showing up when the outcome does not go your way.She auditioned for the team in 2025 and made it through training camp. Then came the setback she had feared. She was cut just one week before the final team was announced.The experience hurt, but it also gave her a reason to push harder.“I actually auditioned last year, made it through training camp and got cut, like, the week before the team was made,” Dastrup said. “It was super hard, super devastating. But it really motivated me to come back and work harder. And it meant that much more.”Instead of treating the rejection as the end of her journey, Dastrup decided to use it as fuel.“I wasn’t going to stop either,” Dastrup said. “If it wasn’t this year, I was going to audition again.”That determination eventually paid off. She made the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders this year and is now preparing for her first appearance in front of Cowboys fans.The achievement still feels surreal to her.“I can’t even believe it still,” Dastrup said. “I’m so used to coming and being like, ‘Am I going to get cut tonight?’ I think I still am trying to get out of that mindset. Like, Savanna, you made it.”Her journey began years earlier, when her mother introduced her to the popular reality series following the cheerleaders' auditions and training.“My mom was like, ‘You should watch Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team with me,’” Dastrup said. “So I watched it and I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ From there, I was like, ‘Please, we have to go to a Cowboys game.’”That early fascination eventually became a serious goal.Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Savanna Dastrup credits family for her successWhile determination brought Dastrup back after rejection, she says her family gave her the foundation to keep pursuing the dream.Her father taught her the value of putting in extra work, a lesson that became especially important after her first audition ended in disappointment.“You fight and earn for your spot every single day,” she said. “My dad always told me to be the first at the studio, the last to leave - put in the extra work - and what’s meant to be will be.”Her Utah roots have also remained an important part of her journey.“Utah is definitely my rock,” she said. “I have the best supportive family, and I couldn’t be more grateful. And I think support was the biggest thing.”Now, that support system is preparing to make the trip to Texas to see Dastrup live out the dream she has carried since she was a teenager.“I don’t think my parents will miss a game,” Dastrup said. “Family, friends, everyoneI’m like, ‘Come on, everybody come to Texas.’”Even before her official debut, she can already feel the excitement building. Hearing “Thunderstruck” during practice gives her butterflies, and she expects the emotion to be even stronger when the music plays inside the stadium.“I would not be surprised if I had tears running down my face of happiness and joy the first time I do it,” she said.But perhaps the most meaningful part of Dastrup's story is what she hopes other young women take from it.“I hope that girls that get rejected or don’t make the team they want realize there is a bigger picture,” she said. “And just, yeah, don’t give up.”For Dastrup, those words are not simply advice. She has lived them. Her first rejection did not erase the dream. It made the moment she finally earned her Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders spot even more meaningful.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.