Cristen Ronzo, a cheerleading coach at Division Avenue High School in the Levittown Public School District, was named Coach of the Year by the Section 8 Coaches Association.
It is Ronzo’s seventh year coaching cheer at Division. In 2020, the team was the Universal Cheerleading Association Regional Champion in the Coed Division and placed second in the Nassau County Championship.
“There were so many successful teams and coaches this year, and I was honored to be recognized alongside them,” Ronzo said. “My assistant coach, Liz Lynch, is with me every step of the way, and I couldn’t have made it through the last year, let alone seven, without her.
This year, they placed second at the County Championship again and competed through four rounds of competitions at UCA Nationals. They made it to the finals for the first time in the program’s history and placed 11th out of 90 teams.
“We have no graduating seniors and the girls and I already have very big plans for next year,” Ronzo said. “We’re already starting to have open practices in a few weeks because they know what they’re capable of. There is no real ‘off season’ in the cheer world.”
Since Ronzo started coaching, the team has also been a scholar athlete team for both fall and winter seasons.
—Levittown Public Schools
