By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Raton High cheer and dance teams traveled down the road to Albuquerque to compete in the State Spirit competition Friday and Saturday.
This year both teams competed in a different class which meant new competition and the second year back in the Pit. The cheer squad competed in Class AAA while the dance team was clumped in with class A through 4A. For dance this means seeing some old nemesis like St Mikes, Hope Christian and Silver City. Raton and Tularosa were the only teams in class AAA so NMAA clumped the four classes together for the competition.
Cheer will compete in class AAA against teams like Pecos and Clayton, who will likely be Raton’s biggest competition.
After Friday’s competition KRTN spoke with both coaches, despite a bobble during the cheer competition coach Linda Ortiz was pleased with the girls performance and was looking forward to Saturday’s competition. Dance coach Sue Holland felt her team did well despite some injuries.
Saturday’s performanes were different for each team as they had different criteria to meet. According to cheer coach Linda Ortiz the girls had done their routine flawlessly in practice but once on the floor of the Pit the girls had difficulty hitting their lifts. Ortiz told KRTN that their scores suffered Saturday due to the problems but they were less than one point behind Tucumcari for third.
On the other hand Raton Tiger Cats dance saw their performance improve over Friday’s score and a change in how the awards were handed out. Dance went into the competitom knowing they had to compete with the 4A schools. When the awards ceremony started Tularosa the only other team in 3A to compete was awarded the 1st place trophy for class A-3A while St. Mikes took 1st place in 4A And trophies were awarded to 2nd place Hope Christain and 3rd place Sandia Prep.
The girls will take a month or so off and begin preparing for next school year with their first performances to come in September when Raton football takes to the field for their home opened September 4th against La Junta.
Final ResultsFrom the State Spirit Competition: Spirit_Results_2015.pdf
