3 Cheers!
HERSHEY — A bobble proved to be just a prelude to a championship.
The Butler cheerleading squad used a Friday mistake as fuel to light a fire toward capturing the program's third PIAA Competitive Spirit title Saturday in Hershey. Butler is in its second season as a coed squad.
Butler's score in the finals was 89.33, putting the Golden Tornado less than a full point ahead of runner-up McDowell's 88.68. Five of the 17 coed squads competing in the PIAA event reached the finals.
Downingtown West finished with an 88.57, Red Lion an 86.77 and New Oxford a 75.03.
“Everything was so tight. The key is in the precision of your performance, to avoid deductions,” Butler coach Marianne Miller said.
The Tornado had a two-point deduction in Friday's preliminaries, causing Butler to enter the finals with a score of 87.00, trailing McDowell's 87.90.
Still, Butler was one of four teams earning a bye straight to the finals, where all scores reset and everything starts over.
“We knew we made a mistake (Friday) and I think that helped us in the long run,” senior Aliegh Kradel said. “It really lit a fire under us.
“We felt like we were good enough to win this.”
When the team returned to the hotel Friday, “we found an empty ballroom and the kids worked on the routine until about 11 that night,” Miller said.
“They wanted to be there. They wanted to do this. I could see them talking to each other, the secret things they say to each other. They wanted to hit it.”
And come Saturday, Butler was spot on.
The Tornado were the only team in the finals to not have any deductions. McDowell had 3.25 points deducted, Downingtown West two points deducted.
That was the difference in the victory.
Butler performed in the finals before McDowell's squad hit the stage.
“I prefer going first,” Kradel said. “We were confident and if you hit a perfect routine, it puts added pressure on the teams performing behind you.
“That worked to our advantage, definitely.”
Fellow senior Kamryn Heller agreed.
“McDowell had a few bobbles and I knew we were ahead,” Heller said. “That was such a great feeling.
“We came out here last year, in the coed division for the first time, and really didn't know what to expect. We wound up taking second and we were proud of that.
“But this is a new year, a new team ... We couldn't have asked for a better outcome,” she added.
In the seven-year history of the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships, Butler has won three golds, three silvers and finished in fourth place once.
“We had a lot of injuries that year,” Miller said of the fourth-place finish. “I do think it was to our advantage that we finished second in the preliminaries. It's easier to knock somebody off the top than to stay on top.
“Being able to bypass the semifinals is big, too. That's two and a half minutes more of energy and adrenaline we were able to save. We were able to rest up for the final.
“These kids felt like they had something to prove Saturday. There was a little more fire in the belly, that's for sure,” she said.
Seniors on the squad are Kradel, Heller, Logan Donnel, Nathan Baker, J.R. Herold and Logan Francis. Juniors include Peyton Holt, Natalie Marburger, Emma Herold and Mykaela Lipscomb.
Sophomores are Samantha Penrod, Kendall Atkinson, Nadia Hindman, Emma Rihn, Brynne Shay and Aleena Hutchens. Freshmen are Bella Shook, Sophia Wogan, Jenna Birckbichler and Mya Slomers.
Butler will compete at the UCA Nationals in Orlando, Fla., in February.
Moniteau reached the semifinal round in the girls medium varsity division. Karns City did not advance from Friday's preliminary round.
