Lewiston shows originality, wins championship Brewer, Bangor, HA get state berths

AUGUSTA – An original routine, packed with many tight and unique dances and lots of tumbling, lifted the Lewiston Blue Devils to the Eastern Maine Class A cheering title before a crowd of approximately 2,000 at the Augusta Civic Center Saturday.

Lewiston rolled up 163.1 points under first-year coach Justin Wing to advance to the state championships on Feb. 11 at the ACC. Rounding out the top six and also gaining berths in the state finals were Oxford Hills of South Paris (157.7), Brewer (154), Lawrence of Fairfield (152.8), Bangor (151.6), and Hampden Academy (149.4).

The Blue Devils, who won state titles in 2003 and 2004, put emphasis on being original.

“We put together a very creative routine, and we tried to do things that we hadn’t seen done before on the floor,” Wing said. “We added a lot of crazy spiriting and stuff in there, so the girls just really put their heart into it and they love what they do.”

Lewiston won last week’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference title and used that experience to propel it to the regional title.

“At the end of one of our stunts, they said we lost our spirit towards the end at KVACs, so we added some words in there like when they clap to set they say ‘Devils,’ and after they bring the stunt down, they all hit poses and say ‘Yeah!’ and all have a crazy facial,” Wing said. “We just really tried to have dances this year that sold how our girls felt out on the floor.”

Leading the Blue Devils were Alyson Banks, Desirae Beaule, Kiani Camire, Jane Campbell, Lauren Cartmel, Sarah Clark, Sarah Daigle, Amanda Frechette-Dumont, Courtney Gladu, Jenni Golletti, Morgan Harrison, Kayla Lajoie, Lysa Laverdiere, Kaitlyn Letourneau, Toni Letourneau, Chantel McLellan, Amy Nelson, Rebecca Roy, Katie Sutton, and Samantha Tanguay.

Oxford Hills overcame an injury to Kallie Robinson to capture second place. About a quarter way through Oxford Hills’ routine, Robinson was kicked in the face by a teammate, and the judges stopped the performance.

“I was trying to get out of the way after doing my backhand-spring, and one of the other girls was doing a double-back handspring. And at the same time that I was moving, her leg knocked me out in the face.” said Robinson.

She was kicked right underneath her right eye, knocked off the mat, and stayed on the floor for several minutes while being examined by the trainer. Robinson said the trainer determined that she did not suffer any fractures and she was given ice to slow swelling on her face.

Oxford Hills was the 13th team to compete in the 17-team random draw and got a chance to start their routine again as the final performer. This competition did not have any callbacks and Oxford Hills didn’t receive any penalty from the routine that ended on Robinson’s injury.

Robinson chose to perform rather than sit out, and the Vikings came back with a strong, clean routine.

“I was so afraid that I was gonna break my face or something,” said Robinson, who did receive some encouraging words from her coach, Deborah Loveless. “[She said] it’s all right, just have fun, do the best that you can.”

Brewer, which won last week’s Penobscot Valley Conference title, made a few minor changes for the regional.

“I added a little bit more tumbling and changed just an 8 count of the dance, but other than that we didn’t really mess with it too much,” Brewer coach Kristie Reed said.

Reed added that she thought Brewer’s tumbling and energy were its strong points.

Rounding out the scoring were: Edward Little of Lewiston 147.4, Old Town 132.1, Brunswick 125.4, Morse 124.6, Mt. Blue of Farmington 124.2, Cony of Augusta 121.2, Nokomis of Newport 116.5, Gardiner 113.7, Leavitt of Turner 113.1, Erskine Academy of South China 111.2, and Mount Ararat of Topsham 101.9.