CARIBOU, Maine — The Presque Isle cheering squad picked up its second straight Aroostook County crown Friday evening when the Wildcats beat Caribou, Houlton and Central Aroostook for the league championship. Houlton finished a close second in the competition.
Held at Caribou High School, the Wildcats averaged a score of 68.5 points after two rounds for the victory. The other team scores were: Houlton, 65.05; Central Aroostook, 61.4; and Caribou, 60.3.
The event served as a prelude to this weekend’s Eastern Regional championships at the Bangor Auditorium. The Class C competition begins at 3:30 p.m.
In Friday night’s competition, special awards were also presented in the following categories: team dance, Houlton; tumbling, CAHS; motions, Presque Isle; jumps, Houlton; stunts, Presque Isle; and spirit, CAHS. Individual awards were presented to Brandon Murphy of Houlton and Miranda Lovely of Presque Isle in tumbling and Jordan Kinney of Presque Isle and Megan Jandreau of Caribou in jumps.
“We were absolutely elated,” Houlton coach Julie Dunn said of the second-place finish. “We have 12 freshmen and only two seniors on the team. Four members have never cheered before, let alone compete. So they have been working extremely hard. It was our first competition as they just finished their routine two weeks ago and just received our music. They have only had one chance to perform on the floor at a ball game.”
The Houlton squad includes Franki White, Megan Maker, Jennifer Farrar, Stephanie Kreyssig, Amber Carmichael, Sarah Bouchard, Ashley McNinch, Lauren Bragan, Jordan Findlater, Eryanne Howland, Kristen Farwell, Mikaela Tuttle, Taylor Forest, Brandon Murphy, Melissa Peabody, Danielle Daigle, Taylor Lindsay, Marcy Hernandez and Maggie Russell.
The Central Aroostook roster includes Sarah Michaud, Brittni Mosher, Rachel Donovan, Kyle Donahue, Whitney Klein, Patricia Donovan, Kellie Stitham, Kayla DeMoura, Mariah Brewer, Laken Kingsbury and Lexi Brewer. The coach is Sami Allen.
For the Panthers, Friday night’s competition marked the first and only primer before this Saturday’s regional competition.
“We have no had any other events thus far,” CAHS coach Allen said. “This is a very determined team. We are very impressed with our tumbling. Half of our team tumbles. Our stunting is not as strong as year’s past, so we have to make up the points in other categories.”
