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| Staff photo/Joseph Cyr Maria Espinosa does a flip during Caribou’s routine in Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class B Championships, held in Bangor. The Vikes came in fifth and advanced to the States. |
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
BANGOR — It is on to the state Class B cheering competition for the Caribou Vikings.
Caribou earned a spot in the state event, slated for Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Augusta Civic Center. The Class B competition begins at 2:30 p.m., and is consolidated with the Class C championships. The awards ceremony is slated for 5 p.m.
An estimated 2,500 fans braved the elements Saturday to watch the daylong Class B, C and D contests at the new Cross Insurance Center.
Caribou, which was competing in its fourth competition since Jan. 11, placed fifth in the Eastern Maine event with 121.1 points. Coach Brandi Makepeace-Cote said some changes to the routine in the days leading up to the event paid off.
“We had changed nearly the whole routine in order to get more points for regionals. Although we had kept improving our score each time we performed it still wasn’t enough to make it to states, so we revamped the whole thing, cleaned it up, and just made everything more solid,” said the coach. “It was a lot of work to do in a week, but the girls really pulled it off and performed better than I have ever seen them. They really came from behind and pulled out all the stops.”
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| Staff photo/Joseph Cyr Melanie Biggs of the Caribou Vikings’ cheerleading squad performs during Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class B Championships, held at the Cross Center in Bangor. The Vikes placed fifth in the event. |
Hermon, the three-time defending state champs, proved to be the dominant squad in Eastern Class B once again with an impressive routine.
Final team scores had Hermon with 145.1, followed by Ellsworth (142.8), Old Town (131.4), Presque Isle (130.3), Caribou, John Bapst (119.6), Erskine Academy of South China (108.7), Gardiner (106.1), Foxcroft Academy (102), Waterville (98.2), Nokomis of Newport (94.3), Mount View of Thorndike (88.9), Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor (88.9), Winslow (80.6) and Oceanside of Rockland-Thomaston (70.7).
Team members from Caribou include Emma Jandreau, Melanie Biggs, Chaya Karunasiri, Mariesa Sarmiento, Karina Patterson, Hannah McDonald, Maria Espinosa, Irene Thibodeau, Laiken Tarbox, Hilary Jalbert, Ashley Cote, Alice Perissinoto, Emma Theriault and Madelyn Malone.
“We look forward to performing yet another routine at the state competition in Augusta and I am so excited to see what they will do this time,” said Makepeace-Cote.
