The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The Wilson cheer team is one of the latest success stories in Long Beach. The Bruins stacked up a lengthy resume during their best competitive cheer season in program history, becoming JAMZ high school cheer and dance Grand Champions and placing first for the first time at the 2025 Nationals in Las Vegas.
“We came in and the athletes were great,” said first-year coach Tyana Torres. “We got to know them, we built on their skills, and in order for us to win nationals we practiced five days a week, three hours a day, just working a routine. We got a choreographer. We just worked and built these skills. It made our girls stronger to the point that they were able to hit this routine with no mistakes consistently, which really helped us on our way to becoming National Champs.”
Torres (Class of 2020) is a Wilson alum herself and teamed up with fellow alum Elizabeth Galvan (Class of 2021) as the two looked to keep the tradition of competitive cheer going at Wilson. The pair combine for over two decades of cheer experience, including their time at Wilson, and they reflected on Wilson’s success after taking on their first year of coaching.
“Since graduating, we noticed that the team was without a coach, and we didn’t want to see the program that we loved and cared for falling down, so we decided to step in,” Galvan said.
“We took a lot of what we learned from our past coaches and just tried to integrate that with this program and tried to do it in our own way,” added Torres. “We’ve just been learning how to be coaches ourselves and I think we really had a lot of fun doing that and learning how to make this team as successful as it could be this year.”
The pair agreed that it was evident of the type of bond the team had since the very beginning of their coaching tenure, and they attributed their success to the team’s togetherness.
“We did so much team bonding this year. They all get along so well it’s like a tight family. Everyone loves each other,” said Galvan. “They’re all there to support each other, even the JV girls too. We call them their little sisters and they always show up to the competitions to support them. So I think that really helped out with bringing the team closer. Once they believe in each other and trust each other, they can go a lot farther with that.”
The Bruins placed first in their first competition of the year just six weeks ago, where they received their Grand Champion honors. Their first-place finish got them the invite to Las Vegas for Nationals in January, where they left their mark as National Champions.
“They really wanted to be a winning team, and they really put in the work,” Torres said. “I think that the most important part is that we didn’t ask anyone to be there. They all wanted to be there. They all wanted to show up, and they all wanted to put in the work. I’m really proud of them. I can’t believe they’ve made it this far.”
Roster: Brooklyn Brummel, Jaylyne Correa, Cali Dickey, Thalia Elboushi, Sophie Ferrando, Estella Gastelum, Giselle Gomez, Piper Jackson, Madisyn Lane, Simaaje McKnight, Kylie McMahon, Leah Metzger, Clarissa Plascencia, Isabel Ramirez, Aundrea Roman, Katie Sierra, Shaniah Talton, Kamya Tucker, Roxann Zuanich.
