The Lewiston High School Blue Devils and Monmouth Academy/Winthrop claimed the state Class A and D cheering championships, respectively, at the Augusta Civic Center Saturday night.
Lewiston registered a score of 87.50 points to edge defending champ Bangor by two points.
Bangor had beaten Lewiston by 1.9 points to win the Class A North regional the previous weekend.
The competition was held virtually last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biddeford was third with 83.70 points and rounding out the top 10 were Oxford Hills of South Pris (79.80), Sanford (77.30), Marshwood of South Berwick (73.20), South Portland (71.70), Scarborough (69.10), Thornton Academy of Saco (68.85) and Mt. Blue of Farmington (68.40).
Bangor High School won second place at the state Class A cheering championship at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday. Credit: Tom Neubelt / BDN
There were 19 teams in Class A.
It was Lewiston’s seventh state A title since, but its first since 2017. In addition to 2011 and 2017, the Blue Devils also captured titles in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Bangor had won it in 2018 and Biddeford notched back-to-back crowns in 2019 and 2020.
Only five of the 17 teams in Class D statewide participated and Monmouth Academy/Winthrop posted a convincing win by 21.90 points with a score of 69.40.
Bangor Christian was second with a score of 47.50 followed by Central Aroostook of Mars Hill (39.30), Penquis of Milo (35.60) and Schenck of East Millinocket (29.90).
Bangor Christian won second place at the state Class D cheering championship at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday. Credit: Tom Neubelt / BDN
Monmouth Academy won the Class C state title a year ago but dropped to D this season and merged with Winthrop High School.
Bangor High co-head coaches Stephanie Crane and Kate Robichaud were pleased with their team’s performance especially considering they had to replace an injured cheerleader in midweek.
“We did have a pretty significant bobble on our pyramid which might have cost us but, other than that, our routine was phenomenal,” Crane said.
“But we still may not have won even if we didn’t have the bobble,” Robichaud said. “Lewiston was very talented, had great stunts and turned in a great performance.”
The coaches said freshman Neveah Jones, filling in for injured freshman Ari LeBlanc, did an outstanding job.
“Whenever you have to replace someone, you have to change other people around, too,” Robichaud said. “To perform as well as they did was pretty amazing.”
Matt Hanley’s Lewiston Blue Devils had a roster composed of Madeline Albert, Kelsea Anderson, Phoenix Beaulieu, Audrey Bilodeau, Ava Blanchette, Jocelyn Coons, Jersey Cunningham, Hannah Dube, Fiona Hutchinson, Khloe Kirk, Siara Laliberte, Allison Lavallee, Emilie Levasseur, Reese Maynard, Cara Schwarze, Gabrielle Thomas, Isa-Tiller Munoz and Aubrey Wood.
Brandon Ouellette’s Monmouth Academy/Winthrop team was composed of Jake Umberhind, Kyleigh Gowell, Mara Poulin, Lily Turcotte, Brooklyn Federico, Aubrey Castonguay, Olivia Dunson and Olivia Degand.