Strong effort in final round lifts Shires to crown Houlton edges WA Raiders

AUGUSTA – The Houlton High School cheerleading team was in an “emergency” state after the Shiretowners performed their first-round routine in Saturday night’s Class C state championship competition at the Augusta Civic Center.

Going along with their hospital theme, the Shires needed resuscitation after a penalty and some minor slipups had them in third place. But Houlton got the transfusion it needed in the finals and won its second state crown since 2003.

Houlton scored 150.1 points in the final, moving up 17.5 points from the first round, for the school’s fourth state title, including two in Class B.

Washington Academy of East Machias also moved up between rounds. The Raiders put up 147 points in the final to earn runner-up honors.

Both teams leapt over defending champ St. Dominic of Auburn, which finished in third with 142.3 points. Orono was fourth with 134.2.

Four of the 12 teams were called back after the first round.

The Shiretowners didn’t know they were sitting 6.7 points behind the Saints after the first round, but they were aware of a five-point penalty, which came when a flyer fell out of a stunt too early, causing one of the bases to fall to the mat and land on her rear end.

There was visible relief on the mat when the stunt held in the finals.

“After everything hits, it’s just like, wow, we actually did it,” said junior Sarah Putnam. “We showed everyone that we could do it without mistakes if we really tried.”

Houlton, which always seems to have a unique routine, played out the theme to the end when the Shires picked up red pompoms and formed a red cross.

The highlight of Houlton’s routine is a complicated pyramid with five cheerleaders in the air.

“The pyramid’s always gone up, even from Day 1 when we first got the routine,” said Mary Jane Cleary, who coaches the Shires with Julie Dunn. “And the crowd loves it.”

Houlton’s team also includes Alexandria Straubel, Elyse Peters, Theresa Harvey, Leah Bates, Mallory McPartland, Laura Schools, Margaret Moody, Kerstien Mayo, Ashlee McClure, Ashley Cleary, Tiffany Bossie, Anna Schools, Taylor Rutledge, Nikki Eastman, Laurel Ranck, Brittany Hill, and Justine Anderson.

Washington Academy had a disappointing season going into states as illness and point deductions left them fifth at the EM regional.

But a strong first-round routine Saturday had WA second to St. Dominic by just one-tenth of a point.

The Raiders don’t have a lot of tumbling but their opening series is impressive, with a variety of one-legged stunts that are pressed up and down by the bases and conclude with twist dismounts.

Due to illness WA only had about 41/2 hours to practice with all of its members after the regional, but the Raiders still made a lot of changes to prepare for states.

“We changed our formations around, changed our jump sequence, and just worked extremely, extremely hard,” said head coach Laurie Schoppee.