State Spirit Championships: La Cueva cheer ends 12-year drought

You could say the La Cueva High School cheerleaders danced to their own beat on Saturday.

Even when there wasn’t any music.

La Cueva’s first state cheer title in 12 years was certainly unorthodox as the Bears twice had their music stop on them during routines, but they persevered, stayed true to their training, and captured the Class 5A championship at the State Spirit Championships at the Pit.

“We had music glitches, which was challenging, but they overcame it, they were able to finish with counts, able to finish with no music,” La Cueva coach Daniele Knee said. “They went out, they put their hearts out there and they hit everything.”

Music cut out during both of La Cueva’s routines Saturday.

The Bears were able to restart (without penalty) their first routine after the music stopped just a few seconds after beginning.

La Cueva was a little further into its second routine when the music went out again.

The Bears kept going this time, forging ahead even without the music, and earned a whopping score of 95.03 points, by far the best individual routine score any 5A cheer squad earned on Saturday.

“I think when our music went out (the first time), we thought, that was it for us, we just lost,” senior Ashlynn Rose said. “(On the second routine), when our music stopped, we were not letting that stop us. We kept counting, we didn’t need the music, we wanted it so bad that we could do it by ourselves.”

The Bears finished with 187.93 points, just about eight points ahead of runner-up Rio Rancho (180), which was second for the second consecutive year. Eldorado (178.93) was third.

“We were hopeful it was gonna be our day,” Knee said. Of winning state for the first time in since 2012, Knee said of this squad, “Their want. Their want to hit, their want to be great, their want to fight. Their motivation, their drive and their determination to not quit (set them apart).”

Senior Abigail Veatch was holding the trophy on Bob King Court and said the Bears had rightly earned this moment, particularly given what they had to overcome on Saturday.

“All the 6 a.m. practices, the amount of sweat and tears … and just the family, we were family. We loved each other,” she said.

Rose said the 2023 state tournament was a tipping point.

“We finally had enough of losing,” she said. “I think last year we hit and we did not win, and it was so hard. It was devastating. This year, we were not gonna lose.”

La Cueva since 2012 had finished as the state runner-up four times, including three times to Rio Rancho.

Organ Mountain was the 5A co-ed state champion in what proved to be a southern sweep.

The Knights scored 173.07 points. Centennial (172.53) and defending co-ed champion Hobbs (169.9) also earned trophies.

Taos, Ruidoso (3A) and Maxwell (1A-2A) also won cheerleading championships on a long Saturday at the Pit.

Taos (179.67) outpointed runner-up St. Pius and third-place Valley in 4A cheer, as the Tigers won state for the fourth consecutive year. Lovington won the co-ed title in 4A, with Bernalillo second.

The state dance competition was held Friday, with Roswell (5A) and Hope Christian (1A-4A) winning state championships.

Photos: Go, Fight, Win! Class 5A cheer state spirit championships