‘New’ Crusaders capture ‘B’ crown John Bapst prevails in Big East; Hermon takes 2nd, Foxcroft places 3rd

HERMON – In the week between the Penobscot Valley Conference championships and the Big East Conference championships, the John Bapst cheerleading team made some drastic changes.

It wasn’t out of desperation that the Crusaders of Bangor completely revamped the dance section of their routine. After all, they’d comfortably won the Class B portion of the PVC meet. Rather, Bapst wanted to add a lot more difficulty to a routine known more for strong simplicity rather than risky showmanship.

And it all came together for Saturday’s Big East meet at Hermon High despite just three practices last week due to weather. The Crusaders recorded a 133.4 average to easily win the Big East Class B title Saturday, followed for the second straight week by Hermon, which had a 114.3 average.

Foxcroft Academy was third with a 110.3.

Each team performed its routine twice. Scores from the two rounds were averaged together to determine the final rankings.

Bapst went up from a 131.6 at PVCs, a rise which reflects a higher difficulty, including the changed dance and adding more back handsprings to tumbling passes.

“We really focused on things in our routine that we wanted to add difficulty to,” senior Naomi Freeman said. “We’re not trying to be simple anymore. We’re trying to be as difficult as possible. We want to do our best, and we know we can hit much harder routines.

The Crusaders looked strong, as always, with very few shaky stunts. The dance routine was the only big change.

Although John Bapst didn’t have a full practice last Monday because of a snowstorm, a couple of the girls got together with coach Jen Babcock to work on a new dance. It took just a matter of days to add it into the routine.

“They taught it to us Tuesday and we practiced it Wednesday and Thursday,” said senior Sara Moreshead.

It turned out the Crusaders had just those three full practices to work on the dance. Friday brought another snowstorm.

The Bapst squad, which has won two straight Class B state titles, still isn’t satisfied despite having an average score that would be competitive in the Class A meet that preceded the B competition Saturday.

“We’re shooting for a 140 and we definitely want to hit 150,” Freeman said of the upcoming Eastern Maine regionals.

The rest of Bapst’s team is made up of Alison Bromley, Brianna Cowan, Jana Craig, Lauren Dooman, Kaili Davis, Melissa Glifort, Nikol Harris, Lauren Licata, Lauren Peavy, Jessica Perina, Kaili Quinn, Sheila Toomey, Amber Weaver and Alexandra Wright.

Hermon also raised its average from PVCs, which was a 112.0. Coach Lisa Pratt couldn’t be happier with the Hawks’ back-to-back runner-up finishes.

With 13 out of 15 team members tumbling, the Hawks likely have one of the highest percentage of tumblers in Eastern Maine Class B.

“I have a very talented team this year and we are really loving it right now,” Pratt said. “We need to tighten up some things and of course we’ll get right to work on those things.”

Hermon will also get to work on its final routine for regionals.

“There are some things you will see different that you haven’t seen in the last two weeks,” Pratt added.