THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN, November 15, 2013

In the United States, there probably aren't that many high school varsity cheerleaders who are also fighters in Mixed Martial Arts, which combines Brazilian Jiu jitsu, wrestling and boxing.

But 15-year-old Coeur d'Alene High sophomore Gillian Noll is one of them.

A DEATH in the family occurred the week before Gillian's MMA debut in the 145-pound weight class, on Oct. 19 at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake. Gillian's great-grandmother, Ann Solski, who raised 14 children, died at age 97 due to natural causes. In the 1920s, Solski took boxing classes but never fought in a match.

"She was (hoping) to see my first fight," Gillian Noll said. "She passed away before I could send her a video of it. She was in the hospital."

Noll, who turned 15 in August, lost a unanimous three-round decision to 20-year-old Stephanie Gusch, who also made her MMA debut. Their 10-minute fight can be found on YouTube under "Gillian Noll, MMA."

Gillian trained for six months at Legacy Gym in Post Falls, where the owner is Jerry Rupinski, her trainer. He works with her five days and 20 hours a week.

"She's among the top three fighters I've ever trained," said Rupinski, who has trained MMA fighters since 2006. "She's hands down the best female I've ever trained and she's the youngest fighter I've ever trained. She's pretty gifted; she can take a punch. Most people take a year's worth of training to step in the cage to take on a low-level opponent. She took on a high-level opponent.

"She's a natural, but meeting her in person, you'd never know she's a fighter. During the fight, the one thing Gillian did was defend the ground and pound, where (Gusch) wrestled her to the ground and kept punching. Gillian used her legs well to keep her opponent at bay."

Noll, who had a 3.0 grade-point average as a freshman, said she thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

"It was absolutely amazing," Noll said. "I worked really hard for months. I can learn from losing."

NEXT UP for Noll is a fight on Thursday, Feb. 13 in the King of the Cage event at The Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley, against Ally Riley from Spokane in the 125-pound weight class.

"She'll be a bigger, stronger fighter than her (Riley)," Rupinski said. "So that'll be an advantage. There are no shin guards required in Idaho, there are different rules than in Washington. In her last fight, she had bulky shin guards that are two inches thick with foam. She tried to put her ankle behind the crook of her knee, so it's harder to get a submission."

Other students and teachers at Coeur d'Alene High know Noll is an MMA fighter and she said her cheerleading teammates love the fact they literally have a fighter in their corner. Noll's favorite part of MMA is boxing.

"When people hear about it, at first they don't believe me," Noll said. "Then they see me with a black eye and they believe me. People don't expect me to hit so hard. They say I hit like a guy."

Noll has big plans for fighting and cheerleading.

"I'm going to stick with cheer (in high school) and go to college," Noll said. "I want to take fighting to the professional level. I'd rather focus on fighting after high school."

NOLL TRAINS with her boyfriend, 16-year-old junior Cory Wells, a wrestler at Lake City High whose first MMA fight is sometime next spring or summer. Noll credits him with getting her into the sport, as before this year she'd just clear a room full of furniture and wrestle with her brother Brittian, a 17-year-old senior at Coeur d'Alene High, and his friends. Gillian's favorite move is the "peekaboo", where a fighter charges and attacks with full force.

"We can punch each other in the face," Noll said. "Afterward we hug each other, it's amazing. We're both about 5-foot-5, 140 pounds. He's perfect for me. He has more skill than me. Sometimes he gets the upper hand on me, other times I get it on him."

NOLL, WHO was born in Moses Lake, Wash., moved to Coeur d'Alene in 2004 when she was 6 years old. The move came after another family tragedy struck, as her grandpa, Richard Gudenau, died at the age of 60 on March 27, 2004, a few months before her family moved.

"After my grandpa died of a heart attack, my parents moved and they owned a Payday Loans store," Gillian said.

On Dec. 17, 2005, another family emergency emerged, as the business owned by her parents burned to the ground. At the time, it was located at a mall in downtown Coeur d'Alene.

"Ever since second grade, she's always said, 'I didn't want to do what anyone else was doing'," said her mother, Donna Noll. "She always found her own beat. She never got into any fights. She's in the right place now. Mixed martial arts, that's her passion. The reception from teachers and parents has been tremendous. We're all family at Coeur d'Alene, so it's been great."

According to an article in The Coeur d'Alene Press, the fire was likely started by a heat cable in a drain pipe. Some Christmas presents bought for Gillian and her two brothers, Brittian and Max, were burned in the fire. Brittian Noll is now a 17-year-old Coeur d'Alene High senior and Max is a 20-year-old who works at a convenience store in Coeur d'Alene.

"My brother Max tells his co-workers his little sister is going to beat them up if they mess with him," Gillian Noll jokingly said.

The good news is the Nolls reopened their Payday Loans store in January 2006 at another location in Coeur d'Alene. Gillian's father, Derrick, currently works as a call center supervisor for Center Partners, and Donna works for a call center with US Bank, both in Coeur d'Alene.

NOLL, WHO is in her first year on the Vikings' varsity competition cheerleading team, serves as a base, or the girl who throws her teammates up in the air for flips and stunts. Last season, she was on the junior varsity cheerleading team and also served as a water girl for the Coeur d'Alene varsity football team.

Arianna Davies is Coeur d'Alene High's coach of the varsity competition cheerleading team.

"Actually, it's pretty awesome," Davies said of Noll's fighting. "She's showing great work ethic. When I tell our cheerleaders to go home and work on their conditioning, she'll come back and she'll have already done it."

Noll said doing one activity has helped with the other.

"I have noticed cheering has helped me with my hips in striking opponents," Noll said. "From MMA to cheer, it's given me endurance. If someone falls on me during cheerleading, it doesn't faze me. Three weeks ago, I hurt my finger and I popped it back in, which was one week before the fight."

Needless to say, through tragedy and becoming a cheerleader who fights in MMA matches, Noll's a tough cookie.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, or via email at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @bourq25