ARLINGTON, Texas — Madeline Massingill knew after having already watched 124 aspiring Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders introduce themselves at the 2015 tryouts at AT&T Stadium that she needed to say something unique to set herself apart.

The 18-year-old Fremont High senior set to graduate next week thought of what turned out to be the perfect introduction.

“I said, ‘Hi, I’m Madeline Massingill, I’m from Farr West, Utah and I’m a Mormon,'” Massingill started.

The declaration was apparently a shock to Charlotte Jones, the daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones who has been in charge of helping to judge the competition, because according to Massingill, her eyes suddenly got very big.

“‘I know what you’re thinking,'” Massingill continued. “‘No, my dad doesn’t have five wives,'”

Massingill knew the introduction had the desired effect when she ran into a producer later on.

“He wasn’t in the room when I introduced myself – and he said, ‘Are you the Mormon girl?'” Massingill said. “He said, ‘You were the talk of the room.'”

Massingill, who says she has danced ever since she knew how to walk and was a member of the Silverline drill team for three years, was one of 500 women to audition for a position on the Cowboys’ cheerleading squad at the preliminary tryouts last Saturday. Massingill survived the preliminaries as well as the semifinals and is one of 50 women remaining in the competition.

“It’s been an incredible experience,” Massingill said. “I’ve always wanted to dance professionally, take it somewhere else. I didn’t know who for. I thought about the Lakers and becoming a Lakers girl, but being a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader was always in the back of my mind. They’re the best of the best. Why not go for it?”

Massingill will have a panel interview Friday followed by a solo routine Saturday to determine if she is one of 35 girls to advance to training camp, which will be held at Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas on June 1.

Massingill can also guarantee a spot at training camp if she wins an online vote. According to her mother, Misty Robbins, Massingill is currently in second place.

Part of the audition process to this point has involved taking a 90-plus question exam that quizzed the prospective cheerleaders on subjects ranging from Cowboys history to dance questions to current events.

“My dad is a Dallas Cowboys fan and he’s originally from Texas so I knew a few things, but not like in depth, so studying with my dad was fun because I got to learn things that even my dad didn’t know about the history,” Massingill said.

Massingill never found out what she got on the exam, but knew she had to have done well because she advanced.

Massingill’s mother finds herself awestruck by the enormity of the situation.

“We’re from Farr West, this small town, and I feel like she’s a confident girl and she’s worked really hard but then you get in a place of this enormity and the first day you’re, ‘Oh, my gosh! What have we gotten into?’ It’s crazy,” Robbins said.

Contact Standard-Examiner sports reporter Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @RyanComerSe and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RyanComerSe.