Middle School Cheer defends national title

For the second year in a row, the Canyon Lake Middle School Competition Cheer Team competed in the USA Spirit Nationals Championship and won the Grand Champion Title. The USA Spirit Nationals is the biggest school competition in the western United States and includes teams from states around the country.

The school competed in four divisions at the Feb. 26 event in Anaheim and won them all, earning itself the Grand Champion Title.

“We had a tough Junior High Show Cheer Division, but we came out on top and defended our title from 2022,” Cheer Coach and Advisor Tammy Howard said. “We also won the Junior High Stunt Group Advanced competition, we placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Junior High Stunt Group Novice event and we tied with Union Middle School for the Game Day Division Title.”

To earn a chance to compete at USA Nationals, teams must compete at a regional event and score 80 points or higher there. Canyon Lake competed in several regional events to earn its spot to compete in all four divisions this year.

“The team worked hard to prepare for nationals and had practices several days a week,” Tammy said. “The girls practiced over the Christmas break and on many weekends.”

The team is made up of many athletes who live in Canyon Lake, including Bria Hofmann, River Cassara, Kyla Easterly, Jennah Jaffe, Chloe Ortiz, Railey Berry, Reese Marcuse, Courtney Medina, Mikaela Kivrizis, Summer Bristow and Kyleigh Peter.

Additional Canyon Lake Middle School team members are Emma Fisher, Kailey Martinez, Kali Stoltz, Maliyah Myers, Julia Flynn, Tori Busell, Emily Hernandez, Jayla Douglas, Audrina Mercado, Natalie Gonzales and Sophia Lares.

The team stayed at the Hilton Anaheim over the weekend and in addition to practicing a couple of times at the convention center where the competition was being held, team members were able to watch and be inspired by the high school competition.

After handing out awards for the four event winners, USA Spirit awards one school team with the Grand Champion trophy. There were 29 school teams in the competition. Canyon Lake Middle School received the prestigious award. It was the second time in a row that the school won it and the third time overall. After winning the title, the team went across the street the next day to celebrate at Disneyland.

The team is coached by Tammy and Kendall Howard.