Medomak Valley cheerleaders successfully defended their West Class B championship Jan. 28 at the Augusta Civic Center. The Panthers now set their sights on gold at the State Class B cheering championships, to be held at the Augusta Civic Center on Sat., Feb. 11 at 2:30 p.m.
Medomak performed their routine flawlessly Saturday to claim the 2012 West B title. They did not have “so much as a wiggle on their stunts and pyramids,” coach Rachel Coor said.
They scored 142.9 points to beat out nearest competitor Leavitt (134.6) by over eight points. The top six teams qualified for State competition. Wells was third with 131.7, Mt. Valley fourth with 123.9, Gray-New Gloucester fifth with 114.5 and Morse sixth with 113.3.
Medomak struggled with their concentration at the KVAC championships. After their disappointing performance at KVAC’s the team worked on the mental part of their performance, by doing pushups and running after breakdowns in their routine due to mental focus. The tactic worked.
“They hate pushups and running,” Coor commented after winning Regionals.
The second Medomak finished their winning West B routine, the cheerleaders exploded with joy and hugs on the competition mat.
When asked when she knew they had won the West B title, Coor responded, “I knew when they finished their routine. It was about as perfect as it could get. I think when we are perfect, no one can beat us. I love it when we are perfect.”
“What was good is everyone had a perfect routine. When it is perfect against perfect, it is as good as it gets. Especially, when you know your best is better than everyone else’s best,” coach Heather Taylor said.
Coor added the Panthers will now work on “more perfecting, and keeping mentally focused. I’m looking forward to two weeks from now.”
The Eagles finished last with 70.9 points, due in large part for not receiving points for jumps. Routines must have three different jumps.
“We had them, the judges just did not see them,” coach Danielle Feltis said. Feltis did not argue with the judges, because it would have only brought their score up 10-14 points, which would not have been enough to qualify for States.
The 2012 competition is the first time in four years that Lincoln Academy has sent a team to Regionals. “I was very happy with their routine. All their stunts were perfect. They did much better than at KVAC’s I thought. They are a very young team with only three girls ever competing at the high school level before. Six have never competed at the high school level,” Feltis added.
