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HAMPDEN – Brewer had a vision. John Bapst wanted to make a statement.
Both school’s cheerleading teams took home top awards at Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference competition for Classes A and B in front of about 1,500 spectators packed into the gym at Hampden Academy.
Brewer earned its first PVC title since 2004, scoring an average of 141.8 points in two rounds, while Bapst won the first-ever PVC Class B title with a 134.2 average.
Central of Corinth took home top honors in the PVC championship for Classes C and D Saturday morning at Stearns High in Millinocket. The Red Devils scored 126.25 points to top runner-up Houlton (120.2 points).
Bangor was the runner-up with 131.85 points in the Class A competition, and Hermon finished second overall with 112 points in the Class B competition.
Hampden (125.8) was third in Class A and Ellsworth (107.8) took third in Class B.
Separate awards for Class A and Class B were given out for the first time this year. With only three Class D teams involved, the competition for Classes C and D was combined.
The competition was also changed this year so that each team had a chance to perform its routine twice instead of the field being winnowed down after the first round with the top teams moving on to a championship round.
Each round was scored and the average of each round was calculated to determine placing.
The Witches, who chose a routine choreographed to the music of the rock group Queen, went up six points between rounds, a jump which can be partially attributed to a first-round deduction for an incorrect landing out of a stunt.
“Our difficulty level is very high, which helps us because something like that motivates us to not do it the second time,” said Brewer’s Courtney Wright, who captains the Witches along with Ali Caron and Kristin Wood.
Brewer had another similar mistake in the second round, but the penalty wasn’t as egregious as the first.
The Witches had the majority of their team tumbling, which heightens the routine’s difficulty and helps with the important overall appeal category.
“Our tumbling level is above most of the teams that we competed against today,” Caron said. “We really used that to our advantage.”
Brewer included bits from the Queen song, “One Vision,” to match the team’s motto of one vision and getting as close as possible to a state title.
“We have that one vision of going all the way and doing it all,” Wood said. “That really sets the stage for us this year.”
Brewer didn’t graduate anyone and added just Wright, who transferred from Ellsworth.
The Witches’ roster also includes Martina Bosse, Jessica Currier, Mackenzie DeGraff, Taylor DiFrederico, Tara Geaghan, Ashley Martin, Kayla Triplett, Jewels Watson, Kelly Cyr, Dominique DeFillip, Jenna Duran, Alicia Hallahan, Alycia Stevens, Alexa Washburn, and alternates Kasey Lingley and Ashley Smith.
Bapst stuck to its tried-and-true formula of simple, clean routines. It has worked two straight years – the Crusaders are two-time defending Class B state champs – and did again Saturday.
“That’s been our tradition,” said Bapst senior Kaili Davis. “We have long, solid stunts that we hold up for a long time. We try to make it look like we could hold it all day if we wanted to.”
The Crusaders did add to their difficulty with more tumbling and double-twisting dismounts out of stunts.
It was a sweet win, literally, as the Crusaders have a candy-themed routine and because they were third last year and second in 2005.
“We wanted to show everyone that we could do it,” said Bapst senior Alison Bromley. “Not competing against Class A was a big change this year. We wanted to show that we could make a clean sweep of all the competitions and prove ourselves.”
The rest of John Bapst’s team is made up of Brianne Cowan, Jana Craig, Lauren Dooman, Naomi Freeman, Melissa Glifort, Nikol Harris, Lauren Licata, Sara Moreshead, Lauren Peavey, Jessica Perna, Kaili Quinn, Sheila Toomey, Amber Weaver, and Alexandra Wright.
PVC Classes C and D
PVC Small School winner Central went up 4 1/2 points between rounds, beating 2006 winner and defending Class C state champion Houlton.
“The girls were pretty excited to win,” said first-year Red Devils coach Erica Perry, a former cheerleader at Old Town High and the University of Maine. “I think they were all pretty nervous.”
Central’s routine, which like Brewer has a Queen theme, includes several tricky stunts including a wolf wall, a pyramid stunt in which three flyers lean back and up again. The Devils included that in a routine in 2005 for which they won the Eastern Maine Class C title.
The Red Devils had a 124 in the first round and went up to a 128.5 in the second round.
“They were a lot more energetic in the second round,” Perry said. “The stunts were a lot steadier. [The jump in points] had to do a lot with overall appeal.”
Central’s team members are Molly Chretien, Brittany Dewitt, Michelle Ferrie, Hilary Haney, Troy O’Bar, Justine Portmann, Kalista Shaw, Brooke Washburn, Beth Dauphinee, Maddie Dunakin, Christy Gray, Whitney Lord, Jessica Plante, Chantel Randall, Brianna Shields, and Chynna York.
Dexter (103.65) finished third.
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