McCurdy’s cheer program continues to grow.
The Bobcats were up to 20 participants on the team, and had 17 compete at state, while sometimes pulling athletes from other sports. And those 17 gave their all in their performances.
“They performed with heart,” said McCurdy coach Maria Tapia. “They did everything they could. They brought their energy, their power, and they performed with what they had, which is a lot of love.”
In the fourth year of their program since a revival in 2019, the cheer team continues to grow at McCurdy. They placed eighth in A-2A with a total score of 133.6 at the State Spirit championships, held at The Pit in Albuquerque on March 18. None of the Rio Arriba teams finished in the top three, but they lit up the crowd with great performances to showcase a season of hard work.
“It’s been amazing,” Tapia said. “It’s been a totally different team. The attitudes are amazing.”
And after trials and internal conflict plagued the team through 2021-22 and nearly shut down the entire program, this year may have been their strongest yet. The seniors stepped up as leaders, refusing to let their final season slip away.
“We’ve worked so hard,” said senior Ian Vallo, the team’s male cheerleader (each team is allowed one male, or will compete in co-ed with multiple). “We’ve come such a long way to do everything on those mats. And we’ve been through so, so, so much.”
“We really came together as a team this year,” said senior and team captain Missy Yordy. “Definitely, this year, we’ve gotten along with each other better. We understand each other. So, when we perform on the mat, we actually look like we’re a team.”
Seniors on the current team finished their fourth year competing, seeing the start of the program and its continued improvement.
“When we first started out, we were really shy,” Vallo said, and they were taking it less seriously. “Over the years we’ve grown, and it’s something that we grew a passion for, and that it’s something we really wanted to be doing.”
Tapia said the school district has continued becoming more supporting of the team, and they are working and getting new equipment. And with the middle school team winning multiple competitions during the year, the McCurdy cheer team will continue to go upward.
“I honestly don’t care what we place,” Yordy said. “I’m just glad that we all put out the mat. And we all came together as a team to work together.”
Pojoaque couple puts on a show
Normally, the cliché is for the football player to date the cheerleader.
But that does not usually include the football player also being part of the cheer team. That is the case for wide receiver and backup quarterback Ethan Meloy (who might be the starter next year) and Kylie Fresquez, who have been dating for three years as Meloy joined the team this year. Fresquez has been cheering since kindergarten.
The Elkettes finished 10th at the state championship, beating out Española Valley by less than half of a point. To stay in the girls division, but with two boys on the team (junior Brandyn Gomez is on the team along with Meloy), they split the two performances between them, with Meloy competing in the musical performance and Gomez in the game day.
Team coach Cassie Martinez and Fresquez convinced Meloy to finally attend a practice in August. His father had been a cheerleader for Española and won a state championship according to Martinez, who unsuccessfully recruited his older brother. But once he started practicing backflips, one of which he landed at state, he was hooked.
“It’s been really fun,” Meloy said. “I’ve done a lot of cool things, I’ve learned how to do roundoffs, backflips, roundoff back tucks. I’ve got to do a lot of fun stuff with them, the girls, just experienced a lot. It’s a whole different thing than my football.”
Part of his job also includes getting to throw Fresquez a dozen or more feet into the air and then catch her.
“I like the way it feels,” Fresquez said of being thrown through the air. “I just love it.”
And throughout the day there was a very collaborative and supportive environment from all teams. That included Española and Pojoaque cheering on each other’s performances.
The Elkettes won first place in two competitions during the year.
“Honestly, I’m super proud,” Martinez said. “Those are definitely the highlights. And now, we look forward to state and getting it done.”
Escalante gets a boost from basketballers
Escalante cheer had a new boost this year: athletes from the basketball team.
They brought their patented energy and passion to the cheer team, not to mention the competitiveness of the state runners-up (with some of the top players in the state, including all-state players Emma Maestas and Brycelyn Martinez). Those players managed to balance hours of basketball practice with finding time for the cheer team, and the coaches of cheer and girls basketball worked closely together to make it happen — they cheered at boys basketball games and often performed at halftime for home games.
“It was really nice to give the girls the opportunity to participate in both sports,” said Escalante coach Cadie Carrillo, who is in her second year coaching high school but previously coached the team in elementary and middle school.
“This is my sixth year doing it with (Carrillo) and we do it every year,” said team captain Arial Maldonado. “Some of us have done it all six years together. We’ve just built this program.”
Escalante placed ninth at state, less than a point behind McCurdy’s score and essentially matching them in both performances. They had a strong showing, including from one performer who twisted her ankle during the competition but finished regardless through visible pain.
The athletes who only do one of basketball or cheer are all close with one another anyway, so perhaps the overlap was only natural. Maldonado is also a team manager with the girls basketball team, as is Aubrey Valdez.
“A lot of them are our friends, but we’ve never been able to be on a team together,” Maldonado said. “The basketball (players) brought more energy, like a different energy.”
The Lobos cheer program restarted for the first time in a decade last year, and this year grew from just 11 last year to a full team. They became more comfortable over the year, and now performing in The Pit was a familiar sight.
“We’re still learning a lot about high school cheer,” Carillo said. “They did really well. We kind of had a little bit of a shaky day, but we all came together and they pulled it off and they performed really well. We had a couple injuries today, but they pushed through it, so they didn’t quit at all.”
Sundevils fight through injuries, diminished numbers
Española Valley had its best week a week before the state championship.
The team traveled to Las Cruces for the Three Crosses Invitational competition, where they were the only team from northern New Mexico. And they finished in second place in both game day cheer and cheer with music.
“They definitely were very, very proud of their performance and their scores out there,” head coach Tatyana Quintana said. “It brought them together and it made them a lot stronger for today.”
The Sundevils finished in 11th place at state, with a total score of 131.2, a slight step back from last season.
Quintana finished her second season as coach of the team. Also in her second season was senior Aracely Orozco. She had always been interested, but last year decided to “give it a go.” But a sprained knee while practicing a cartwheel cut her season short, but she still watched and encouraged the team from the sideline.
“I made a lot of great bonds with all the girls on the team, and they just became like my family,” Orozco said.
The Sundevils started the season with 30 on the team, but over the course of a long full-year season, the numbers dwindled.
“With a sport like cheerleading, it’s a very, very long season,” Quintana said. “We start in April, we go all the way through March. Sometimes it’s just a very intense season for kids.”
But those that stayed put together a strong performance at state.
“I saw a lot of heart, a lot of performance,” Quintana said. “Everything that we asked of them, they went out there and they did for us.”