Cheerleaders' fracas 'bigger than it is'

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A cheerleader at Thoreau High School who was injured Friday by falling off a pyramid and then became the center of a controversy at a cheerleading meeting on Monday has decided not to go back to her school.

The girl's mother, Frances Chavez, said her daughter, Lorena Chavez, has decided to leave the school and attend a school in Gallup because "she no longer feels safe at Thoreau High."

Both Lorena and Frances Chavez spoke to The Independent Thursday to explain their side of a controversy that they both think is being blown out of proportion by the newspaper and by those who have been accusing Francis Chavez of trying to injure another cheerleader at the school.

"I didn't hit any of the other cheerleaders," Frances Chavez said.

The Independent has received a copy of the report on the incident issued by the McKinley County's Sheriff's Office. Deputies were called to the scene on Monday by school security guards who had been at a meeting of the school's cheerleading squad.

The meeting was called because Lorena Chavez, 16, was injured the Friday before when she fell off the top of a pyramid and landed on her head. Lorena Chavez said Thursday that she had fallen off the pyramid several times during the year, receiving a torn ligament and a fractured backbone.

The main purpose of the meeting was to decide on what the team would do in the state competition. Because Chavez was no longer able to compete, the team talked about and then abandoned the idea of just going to the competition as spectators.

Frances Chavez said she went to the meeting to talk to the other players on why her daughter received so many injuries during the year, when the other flyer the person on the top of the other pyramid was not injured once.

The argument at the meeting was apparently between the Chavezes and another of the cheerleaders, Chelsea Troncoso, who was not a part of the pyramid with Lorena Chavez.

But she did say during the meeting that if Lorena Chavez was afraid to be on the top of the pyramid, she probably shouldn't be doing it.

Police report
According to a report by deputies for the McKinley County Sheriff's Department, this is what happened next.

"Chelsea said that Frances Chavez was pointing her finger at her and was making statements about being tired of her and her mother (Sherrie Troncoso, who is a secretary and softball coach at the school).

"Chelsea said that she was about to be battered up by Mrs. Chavez, but the coach, Penny Elkins, stepped between them. At this point, Lorena came after Chelsea and three different people tried to restrain Lorena, but she was able to grab Chelsea by the jacket.

"Chelsea than grabbed Lorena by the hair. Chelsea then said that Frances Chavez grabbed her by the right arm and pulled her away from Lorena. Chelsea said she felt Ms. Chavez did this to break up the fight between her and Lorena. School security arrived and separated the parties."

Elkin's perspective
The report then gave Elkins' version of the incident. "Frances Chavez was yelling and pointing her finger at Chelsea as she walked towards her." Elkins said she got between the two to stop the confrontation.

Then, according to Elkins, "Lorena jumped over a cement bench and started after Chelsea."

The report goes on, "Ms. Elkins said she tried to stop Lorena, but she was not able to. She said one of Lorena's friends and Lorena's father also tried to stop her but failed."

Charges pending
The report ends by saying: "A battery charge against Lorena will be forwarded to the juvenile probation office. An assault charge against Frances Chavez will be filed in magistrate court."

So far neither of these things have happened, but Frances Chavez said that police came and interviewed her again on Wednesday night after the first article about the meeting appeared in the paper.

Both Frances and Lorena Chavez said the descriptions of what happened at that meeting as it appeared in the police report were wrong.

Frances Chavez said she was not yelling but admitted pointing her finger, not only at Chelsea Troncoso but at the other girls as well.

"I wasn't angry," she said. "I was just trying to get some information from the girls about why Lorena was getting injured so much."

Lorena Chavez said that she and Chelsea Troncoso were "face to face" talking to each other when her coach and her father grabbed her and separated them.

It was at that time that security guards came up to the group and began putting the Chavezes on one side of the hallway and the rest of the girls on the other.

Frances Chavez said that she told the security guards she needed to get back and talk to the girls "so we could clear this up," but the security guards said that she should do that at some other time.

Frances Chavez estimated that she was about 100 feet away from the other girls at that time. A decision was made by the family that it would probably be best to leave and resolve the problems later, but it was at this time, Frances Chavez said, that one of the security guards came up and suggested that she go back to talk to the other girls.

Frances Chavez said she decided just to go home.

According to Lorena Chavez, her mother never touched Chelsea Troncoso. The only one who grabbed Tronosco, Lorena Chavez said, was Elkins.

"I didn't go to the meeting with malice," Frances Chavez said. "I'm a mother. I know the right way to handle these things."

As for Lorena Chavez, she said she feels that this whole incident has been blown out of proportion.

"People are making it a lot bigger than it is," she said.