Award-winning cheer team enters new year

After most members of the championship cheer team at Canyon Lake Middle School graduated to high school in June, the team spent the summer rebuilding and advisor and coach Tammy Howard likes what she sees.

“It is definitely a rebuilding each year,” she said. “But, we love it. It’s time to go back to school and the team is ready.”

The “rebuilt” team is full of talent, Tammy said. There are 45 girls in the program, 32 of which are on Varsity and 13 are on Junior Varsity. There are 21 Canyon Lake girls on the two teams.

The girls have spent the summer working hard on cheers, dance routines, conditioning, jumps, tumbling and stunting.

“Summer is all about starting fresh and making progress,” Tammy said. “It is the time to build our foundation and get ready to perform and support our school and community.”

Members of the Canyon Lake Middle School Cheer Team practice during summer workouts. The team, about half of which are Canyon Lake girls, are working to defend its USA Junior Spirit National Championship it earned the end of the school year in May. Photo by Tammy and Kendra Howard

Some of the more important goals of the summer practices are getting to know the new girls, doing fun activities to bond as a team and learn stunting skills. Included in the summer workouts was an elite two-day summer cheer camp with TSC where the girls learned new material and skills.

Expectations are high for the new cheer team. Last year, the Canyon Lake Middle School Cheer Team won the USA Junior Spirit National Championships. The cheer team was also crowned Junior Grand Champions because it had the highest score out of all junior teams including All-Stars. The team is ready to defend its title.

Captains for the 2022-23 team include Canyon Lakers Bria Hofmann and River Cassara. The other two captains are Emily Hernandez and Tori Busell. Both co-captains are from Canyon Lake, Summer Bristow and Courtney Medina.

Members of the Canyon Lake Middle School Cheer Team practice during summer workouts. The team, about half of which are Canyon Lake girls, are working to defend its USA Junior Spirit National Championship it earned the end of the school year in May. Photo by Tammy and Kendra Howard

Varsity Cheer team members from Canyon Lake are: Railey Berry, Summer Bristow, River Cassara, Emma Craig, Kyla Easterly, Bria Hofmann, Jennah Jaffe, Mikaela Kivrizis, Adriana Kral, Reese Marcuse, Courtney Medina, Charlotte Moore, Chloe Ortiz, Nikki Padden, Paisley Riley Carter, Tatum Thompson and Kileigh Wilcox.

Additional Varsity members are: Arianna Baeza, Troi Busell, Jayla Douglas, Emma Fisher, Julia Flynn, Natalie Gonzalez, Emma Hall, Emily Hernandez, Sophia Lares, Kailey Martinez, Audrina Mercado, Maliyah Myers, Kyleigh Peter, Malia Shannon and Kali Stoltz.

Junior Varsity team members from Canyon Lake are: Bella Diamond, Sadie Sakamoto, Linda Solis and Khloe Phillips. Additional JV team members are: Kyla Allen, Emilie Calwell, Lilyana Gallegos, Ella Golovich, Hailey Mena, Jessie Shaw, Ximena Ureta Moreno, Clarissa Mondragon and Chloe Post.

The team is coached by Tammy and Kendall Howard.

Photo by Tammy and Kendra Howard

Photo by Tammy and Kendra Howard