By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Maxwell Bears Cheer team brings home the blue Saturday April 6, 2024 as they bested 17 other teams in the Class A-2A NMAA State Spirit competition held in Albuquerque in the PIT on the campus of the University of New Mexico.
Coached by Celina Apodaca, the Bears (162.64) performed their routines almost flawlessly beating defending champion Questa Wildcats (155.2) by over seven points. Northern NM did very well this year as the top two teams were followed by the Clayton YellowJackets(153.53) who took third place in the competition. This state championship win is the first ever for Maxwell’s cheer program and only the third year they competeted. Coach Apodaca is a former member of Raton Cheer who competed under Coach Linda Ortiz.
2024 A-2A NM State Spirit Championship Squad, Maxwell Cheer consisted of : Anita Hoy (11); McKinsly Davis (11); Alexis Tate (11); Raven Valentine (11); Terrance Gallegos (10); Patricia Trotter (10); Iliana Gallegos (9); Paige Hoy (9); Lilly Tate (9); Jazlyn Berry (9); Brailyn Hoy (9); Leilah Duncan (8); Natalee Atler (8) with JayCee Apodaca serving as manager/music.
The returning Class 3A State Champs Raton Tigers battled a tough field of six other cheer teams this year and managed to pull out a third place showing. Ruidoso with a 20 plus member team won the state title this year with a 162.83 score. They were followed up by Cobre with a 158.63 score and Raton with a 151.6 total. The teams were scored on a game day cheer and cheer with music.
Below are the scores for each team. The first number is the performance one score and the second one is for the second performance and then the total score.
Cheer 3A RUIDOSO 87.47 75.37 162.83
Cheer 3A COBRE 85.43 73.2 158.63
Cheer 3A RATON 83.07 68.53 151.6
Cheer 3A ROBERTSON 77.37 63.27 140.63
Cheer 3A TUCUMCARI 75.73 62.8 138.53
Cheer 3A THOREAU 73.23 61.83 135.07
Cheer 3A WEST LAS VEGAS 70.97 59.63 130.6
Cheer A-2A MAXWELL 82.37 80.27 162.64
Cheer A-2A QUESTA 82.9 72.3 155.2
Cheer A-2A CLAYTON 77.57 75.97 153.53
Cheer A-2A LORDSBURG 77.3 75.5 152.8
Cheer A-2A PECOS 79.97 72.17 152.13
Cheer A-2A FT. SUMNER. 81.43 69.1 150.53
Cheer A-2A ESCALANTE 77.2 73.27 150.47
Cheer A-2A TATUM 76.1 74.3 150.4
Cheer A-2A TEXICO 75.03 72.73 147.77
Cheer A-2A CAPITAN 77.83 69.83 147.67
Cheer A-2A SANTA ROSA 81.17 64.77 145.93
Cheer A-2A TULAROSA 76.93 68.13 145.07
Cheer A-2A EUNICE 76.87 67.4 144.27
Cheer A-2A MCCURDY 72.43 67.37 139.8
Cheer A-2A MORA 75.5 62.1 137.6
Cheer A-2A SAN JON. 73.47 63.63 137.1
Cheer A-2A CLOUDCROFT 75.8 0 75.8
Cheer A-2A MAGDALENA 73.23 0 73.23
