Riverside, Calif. — Rialto High School’s cheer team accomplished something that has never been done before in the history of California. In the month of February, they won the first ever CIF division title for Cheer and placed first in Nationals.

Many have voiced their opinions about cheerleading not qualifying and not seeing it as a sport. Cheer is beginning to get the recognition that it deserves, stemming from the announcement by CIF in 2016, that they would have a CIF playoff format for Cheer starting in 2018. Most feel that shows a whole new dynamic of respect for the sport.

Valeria Campos, Rialto High School Cheer advisor said recently “Cheer is a physical sport, but also a mental sport. There are so many components that you have to focus on in terms of placement, choreography, and timing, and many people seem to overlook that.”

Rialto showed the state just how mentally and physically prepared they were. During the competition, the Rialto Knights Cheer squad hit a ‘zero routine’ for the first time. “It was an amazing feeling,” Campos said “since the team was so young and struggled at times early in the season.”

Now they come back as the top tier team in the state and after securing both victories, now have high national ranking.  Their names are also forever written in the history books, to be remembered as one of the first teams to win a CIF title! “You get to share this victory,” Campos said about the teams now lasting memory of making history. “This first time victory is shared with them, and that is something they are going to carry with them as a story they are going to be able to tell in the future and it is just so special.”

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Interview with Rialto Knights Cheer (Click Here)

Intern Staff Writer: Cameron Winston (IE Sports Net)