Kaydence Renzi (left) and Ali Arsenault link arms to complete a stunt in Lincoln Academys routine during the KVAC Class B cheering championship competition on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Augusta Civic Center. (Mic LeBel photo)
Despite some last-minute reworking of their routine due to illness, the Lincoln Academy cheering team pulled off a performance that improved its score over last year at the KVAC Class B championship on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Augusta Civic Center. The Eagles placed 13th out of 15 teams competing for the KVAC Class B title at the Central Maine Cheering Classic at the Augusta Civic Center. The event also included the KVAC Class A, Mountain Valley Conference, and Western Maine Conference championships.
“The morning of KVACs, I had to have the team come in at 6:45 a.m. to rework five stunts and the pyramid due to a cheerleader out unexpectedly with the flu,” said Eagles coach Danielle Feltis. “So in light of that, I was very happy with the performance overall. All the stunts went up with no falls and no deductions. The formations and spacings were off, but that was to be expected with a missing person.”
Out of the 15 KVAC Class B schools, four of the teams improved their score from last year and Lincoln Academy was one of them, with the second highest overall improvement. According to Feltis, of the 12 girls on the team, seven had never competed at the high school level before.
Ali Arsenault performs a stunt while supported by her Lincoln Academy teammates during the KVAC Class B cheering championship competition on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Augusta Civic Center. (Mic LeBel photo)
“I’m very proud of the team being able to make the adjustments needed at the very last minute and still perform at the level they did,” said Feltis. “We hope to keep up the momentum of the improvements going into regionals. We’re working on cleaning up areas that were a little messy and hope to increase the difficulty of our pyramid to help with the scoring.”
Medomak Valley won the KVAC Class B competition with a score of 68, followed by Gardiner (62.65), Waterville/Messalonskee (61.1), Winslow (52.3), Morse (51.1), Erskine Academy (48.8), Lawrence (45.4), Oceanside (44.7), Leavitt (44.4), Belfast (40.5), Nokomis (37.3), Maine Central Institute (32.9), Lincoln Academy (31.3), Cony (25.5), and Mount View (20.3).
Coached by Feltis, Lincoln Academy team members include Rosalie Adams, Ali Arsenault, Kaydence Beaulieu-Renzi, Mary Gallagher, Piper Hallowell, Jessica Kelley, Brooke McFarland, Sarah Prior, Valerie Ruele, Ellie Thomas, Reese Van Remoortel, and Sydney Lambert.
The next competition for the Eagles is the Class B South regional championship at Sanford High School on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Kaydence Renzi (left) and Ali Arsenault are lifted by teammates during Lincoln Academy’s performance at the KVAC Class B cheering championship on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Augusta Civic Center. (Mic LeBel photo)
