Area teams compete at state cheer championships
By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News Staff
AUGUSTA — Ellsworth High School won its first state Class B cheerleading championship a year ago and made it two in a row on Saturday, Feb. 13 at the Augusta Civic Center.
Lewiston captured the Class A title and Lisbon/St. Dom’s of Auburn won its third straight championship in Class C.
For the first time since the inception of competitive cheerleading in 1988, there was no Class D due to a lack of teams and participants. The former D teams competed in Class C.
There were 16 teams in each of the three classes.
The Ellsworth girls posted a score of 84.95, which was 2.55 higher than runner-up Gray-New Gloucester.
Hermon was third with a score of 76.15 and rounding out the top 10 were John Bapst of Bangor (75.25), Winslow (73.8), Poland (62.7), Leavitt of Turner (60.5), Morse of Bath (60), Lawrence of Fairfield (59.4) and Presque Isle (59.1).
The final six were Gardiner/Hall-Dale (54.3), Erskine Academy of South China (53.9), Old Town (53.4), Mt. Blue of Farmington (51.1), Oceanside of Rockland (44.8) and Oak Hill of Sabattus (40.1).
The sophomore-laden Eagles won the state title with just one senior in captain Natalie Sawyer. They had two juniors in Olivia Leighton and Mount Desert Island transfer Calie Reece, seven sophomores in Noelle Towne, Molly Smith, Lily Alley, Whitney Jordan, Ally Brown, Kaylee Bockus and Sumner transfer Sage Brown and a pair of freshmen Grace Robinson and Katie Clark.
They are coached by Melanie Fox and Kat (Dickens) Archer, who are in their 10th season at the helm.
Lewiston produced a score of 89.5 to outdistance Noble of North Berwick by 5.6 points.
It is the Blue Devils’ second state title in three years; fourth in 10 and eighth in 14 seasons.
Bangor was third with 81.1 points followed by defending state champ Oxford Hills of South Paris (77), Bonny Eagle of Buxton (76.7), Hampden Academy (75.8), Gorham (71.9), Sanford (63.15), Scarborough/Falmouth (60.8), Brewer (60.6), Thornton Academy of Saco (59.8), Windham (54.2), Massabesic of Waterboro (52.4), Skowhegan (50), South Portland (45) and Portland (44.5).
Lisbon/St. Dom’s registered a score of 82.2 to outpoint Sumner by 3.6 points. Lisbon has won six of the last 10 state C titles and has partnered with St. Dom’s for the last two.
Dexter was third with 72.65 points followed by Central of Corinth (66.5), Orono (66.2), a tie for sixth involving Bucksport and Houlton/Greater Houlton Christian Academy (62.7), Penquis of Milo (55.2), Calais (52.4), Mountain Valley of Rumford (52.1), Bangor Christian (50.4), Mattanawcook of Lincoln (48.2), Sacopee Valley of South Hiram (41.6), Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft (41), Central Aroostook of Mars Hill (38.4) and Woodland (37.5).