AUGUSTA – With six senior captains on the team this year, Central Aroostook cheerleading coach Sami Jo Allen sensed that this year’s Panther team could deliver.

And did they ever – Central Aroostook not only brought home a regional title this year, but Saturday earned the program’s first Class D state championship since 2002.

“We started early this year, our stunts were strong this summer. They had the dedication and they wanted it.”

It was the school’s fifth state crown and third in Class D – but the first for seniors Ashley Brewer, Shelby Hallett, Miranda Levesque, Shannon Michaud, Latisha Neece and Michelle Tweedie.

“We’ve wanted it for four years,” Neece said.

Machias was the Class D runner-up with 118.9 points, followed by Bangor Christian with 111.1 and Buckfield, which had 104.8.

Biddeford tipped Marshwood of Eliot in the final round for the Class A state championship. The Tigers scored 164.5 points in the finals to the Hawks’ 163.9.

The top three teams in each classification earned the right to compete in the New England Championships, which will be held March 15 in Woburn, Mass. The top team with one or more boys will participate in the co-ed division to a total of three teams.

There were eight teams in the Class D competition and 12 in Class A. Four teams in each classification were called back and final placement was based on scores from the callbacks.

The experienced Panthers had a routine that was a step more complex than the rest of the field with tumbling, two stunts that went to the extended level out of which the flyers did twisting dismounts, and an exciting basket toss at the end of the routine.

“We knew we had really strong stunts and both of our flyers [Tweedie and sophomore Brittni Mosher] are really good,” Hallett said.

One of the Panthers’ final-round stunts didn’t go all the way up as planned, but the bases kept it at the prep level, which didn’t hurt their final score.

The two keys, however, were high scores for their dance and jumps.

“Our jumps are very level,” Allen said. “We do tons and tons of jumps. [The scores] were right in the range where they should have been.”

The Panthers didn’t make many changes between regionals and states, just adding some words to their routine, in addition to the required cheer, in order to up their appeal scores.

“That really got us going and helped us finish with the attitude we began with,” Neece said.

The rest of the Central Aroostook team is made up of Kyle Donahue, Rachael Donahue, Rachel Donovan, Kaila Foster, Kassandra LeClaire, Sarah Michaud and Ariel Nappi.

Machias, which also finished second in the regionals, went up 4.4 points between rounds.

The Bulldogs have nine on their team, which is one shy of the cutoff for the second level of stunting. That puts Machias at a bit of an advantage because the team can focus on having one strong stunt rather than risking two, with flyer Courtney Dahl doing twist dismounts out of stunts.

“It was a little easier for us,” she said. “We also have a couple of back handsprings, which a lot of other [Class D] teams don’t have. And we do twist out of everything.”

Biddeford, which was second to Marshwood in the Western Maine Class A competition, has come a long way this season after finishing seventh in an invitational early last month.

“We finally got our timing together and finally hit the routine, which is something we hadn’t done all season,” Biddeford coach Deb Lebel said.

It was Biddeford’s first state title since 2002.

Scarborough finished in third place with 162.4 points and Eastern Maine champion Lewiston was fourth with 160.2.

The Tiger roster is Alyssa Belanger, Brooke Lefebvre, Kristen Dutremble, Kaitlin Dutremble, Kelsey Martin, Kaitlyn Bellerose, Alycia Lambert, Kady Lemelin, Catrina Wade, Amanda Stackpole, Kelsey Mohrmann, Chelsea Gaudette, Kaylee Lachance, Stephanie Hatch, Justina Adams, Alycia Gelinas, Ashley Parker, Katherine Boucher, Shana O’Rourke, Sarah Martel, Alannah Brown, Kaitlin Goulet and Kaleigh Daigneault.

The Hawks, who led the Class A field after the first round with a score of 163, received a standing ovation when they went to get their runner-up medals.

Brewer, the 2007 state champion, posted a score of 154.7 in the first round to finish seventh overall while Bangor’s 139.6 was ninth.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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