AUGUSTA — Biddeford coach Deb Lebel said her team’s routine at Saturday’s Class A cheerleading championship the best she has ever seen.
With a score of 92.6, the Tigers ran away with the Class A title, overtaking Lewiston (86.7) and Bangor (83.7).
“We had a perfect routine,” Lebel said. “It was amazing.”
Nineteen Biddeford Tigers tumbled and danced in perfect synchronicity to earn the overwhelming win.
“There’s no better feeling than what just happened,” Biddeford cheerleader Claudia Janelle said. “When we came off that mat, it was so relieving and it didn’t feel like it was humanly possible to do that — we just did it and it was the best feeling in the world and nothing compared to that.”
Janelle said that the Tigers were so in sync with each other during the routine that she didn’t have to spend much time thinking about it.
“During the routine it’s like blackout,” Janelle said. “You’re in a zone, and you’re so channel-focused and at the end you’re like, ‘Wow.’ It was like a phase and then it just hits you and you’re like, ‘Wow, I just did that.’”
The only changes Biddeford made from the A South regional was replacing a cheerleader who suffered a concussion.
Lewiston, on the other hand, created a new stunt section and the scores reflected positively on the change, going from 9.0 to 9.5.
“I liked that they showed that they are resilient,” Blue Devils coach Matt Hanley said. “We had major routine changes with every performance that we’ve put out, and they keep showing that they can hit no matter what. It’s really a good feeling knowing they can go out and hit whatever I put in front of them.”
Lewiston performed a strong routine with solid synchronicity. At the end, Brianna Desjardins fell to the ground and had to be carried off with a knee injury, one day after she suffered an ankle injury on Friday. However, Desjardins finished the routine.
“They can hit if they’re tired, sick, we had girls with injuries on the floor and they were able to push through and made all the stunts happen,” Hanley said. “… They feel really great. They’re a competitive team and they know what can happen if you don’t hit, so to still come out in second (place), they are extremely, extremely happy.”
In fourth place was Oxford Hills (79.3), followed by Sanford (77.3) and Thornton Academy (77.2).
SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR PANTHERS
In Class D, Central Aroostook claimed its seventh on Saturday. It didn’t come easy, though, as the Panthers battled through obstacle after obstacle this winter.
“We have had one of the toughest seasons that any sports team can go through,” Central Aroostook co-coach Janice Lyons said. “We have had injuries upon injuries, sickness, weather, other circumstances, and it’s just been non-stop. We’ve had to change this routine I can’t even tell you how many times. They surprise us every time and they still give us everything they have, and we always end up on top somehow.”
Central Aroostook (74.6) beat out Penobscot Valley (72.1) after adjusting its routine quite heavily from regionals.
“We moved one of our stunt sequences, our half-ups, we moved them to the beginning of the routine and added heels to those instead of doing regular heels,” Central Aroostook co-coach Sami Jo Allen said. “We also added heel stretches in the pyramid to boost up our scores in that area and it worked out. Our scores went up in both cases.”
In third place in Class D was Bangor Christian (62.9), followed by Woodland (52).
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