TaosQuesta continue to dominate state cheering competition

ALBUQUERQUE — Taos County is the heart of cheerleading in Northern New Mexico.

It was on full display Friday in The Pit. The Questa Wildcats won the Class 1A/2A title for the third time in the past four yearswhile the Taos Tigers made it a five-peat with a dominating performance in the 4A cheer division to cap the first day of the State Spirit Competition.

The two schools have cornered the market on blue trophies over the past 11 years. Questa has six 1A/2A titles over that spanwhile the Tigers have been crowned state champions in 10 of the past 11 years.

In factTaos completed its second five-peat.

The two schoolsseparated by 28 mileshave benefitted from a club cheer program that started in Taos more than 20 years ago. Longtime Taos head coach Lisa Abeyta-Valerio was a part it when her children were young.

“We were just a couple of moms,” Abeyta-Valerio said. “My daughter graduated about 10 years agoand she was a junior when we won our first championship. She started when she was 5. My other daughterthe sameand she graduated last year. They grew up in it.”

The culture developed from that youth program shows. Taos had 29 performers on its varsity squadwhile Questaa school with just under 100 studentsshowed up with 21. Wildcats head coach Maria Medina said most of her cheerleaders are multisport athletesincluding 13 from a basketball program that reached the Class 2A State Tournament three weeks ago.

“This is the biggest squad we’ve ever had,” Medina said. “And they go from volleyball to soccer to trackeven basketball players. ... It’s just about being flexibledoing what’s best for the team and not just the sport.”

The Wildcats were smooth and sharp in both of their morning routinesand they easily bested Maxwellthe 2024 championby a 160.27-159.33 score. Questa junior Ariana MedinaMaria Medina’s daughtersaid the team worked hard on its routine all yeareven practicing it Thursday.

“We went straight to practice after school all week,” said Medinaa junior. “We just went into there with a good attitude and good confidence right away.”

The Wildcats also had plenty of motivation. As they stood for photos with their blue trophy and their latest championship bannerthey also brought a banner honoring Amarissa “Missa” Cintaswho died in August at the age of 15.

Ariana Medina said the loss of the second-year letterwinner devastated the teambut it also brought the group together in sharing its grief. More importantshe said the cheerleaders had discussions about the importance of mental health.

“We talked about how we can overcome it,” Ariana said. “It makes us feel better knowing we can talk to anyone about it.”

Taos sweep

Meanwhilea trio of Taos seniors capped a stellar cheerleading career with their latest championship. Annissa GarciaAmadeo Gallegos and Alexis Etzel became the second group of Tigers to cap their careers with five state titlesstarting as eighth graders.

They were a part of the first team to return to normal activity after the COVID-19 pandemicand they remember how nervous they were coming into the state competition. They also remember how the seniors and upperclassmen in 2021 helped them navigate the nerves of competing at the state’s biggest stage.

They are the very same lessons they hand down to the current group of five eighth graders who competed in their first state event.

“It’s definitely a big role,” Etzel said. “All of our eighth gradersthey’re really nervous. So when they’re on the rampwe tell them to breathe as much as they canthat they got thisand they trust the process.”

The process was not easyas the Tigers started working on their state routine in the summer. Garcia said the most challenging part of the routine was the pyramidwhich the Tigers worked on nonstop.

But it was a part how the season went. The reward was a score of 179.35 pointswhich was 8.35 better than runner-up Artesia.

“We’ve been working nonstop — practices seven days a week and threefour practices,” Garcia said. “It was just the want. We have a lot of want to win again.”

West Las Vegas placed second in the 3A division with a 141.9 total. In 5ASanta Fe High finished 11th in the cheer divisionwhile Capital was eighth in the co-ed competition.