Cleveland cheer grabs first place at APS Invite

ALBUQUERQUE – The Cleveland Storm cheer squad headed to Albuquerque this past weekend for their second competition in two weekends.

Last weekend, the Storm hosted the Cleveland Invite and finished in 2nd place, just behind the La Cueva Bears.

The Storm had a few early mistakes that cost them in that tournament, but they still scored high due to the routine’s high level of difficulty. By the end, CHS had found their rhythm and rebounded from a potential disaster to grab that second-place trophy.

“The nerves will always be there when performing in front of a crowd, but we are definitely finding our groove with sportsmanship,” said head coach Maddison Weaver. “We are trying our best as coaches to give the team as much crowd exposure as possible, from performing at pep rallies to bringing alumni into practices to give feedback and encouragement.”

This weekend, the Storm put all of that preparation to the test. Teams from all over the city converged on Manzano High School for the APS Invite, the final cheer competition of the year.

This time the Storm went up against fiercer competition and more of it. But that wasn’t all. A pivotal injury during practice earlier in the week left the CHS squad scrambling.

“We actually ended up having to change our entire routine on Friday evening,” said Weaver. “We stayed at the school until about 7:30 fixing and changing every part of the routine, putting girls in new positions and learning sections they had never done. They performed their hearts out less than 24 hours later with a brand-new routine.”

And they absolutely nailed it.

The Storm cheer team finished first and returned to the City of Vision with the champion’s trophy after a perfect performance.

“The girls were ecstatic when they were announced the winners,” said Weaver after this Saturday’s invite. “We had a ton of speed bumps last week leading up to this competition, from sickness to injuries, not to mention the quick turnaround...”

Weaver said winning this competition has been a goal for some time.

“We placed third at Rio Rancho and second at Cleveland, so it was our goal to get that first-place finish to complete the pattern.”

Atrisco Heritage got second place in varsity, and the Storm JV squad captured third place in the “Cheer with Music” category.

Next, the Storm take a well-earned break before heading to the APS Metro Championships at Cibola High School. Their hometown frenemies, the Rio Rancho Rams will be joining them there.