Cheerleading - James Wood Advance To Region

Posted: October 23, 2014
By ALLEN BRIDGE
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — After finishing in last place in the district and second to last in the conference last year, Millbrook’s cheerleading team had to be feeling good about itself after placing second in the Northwestern District Tournament two weeks ago.

And another second-place showing, this time in a Conference 21 mini-cheer competition last week, only added to the confidence.

So when the Pioneers took the floor in Casey Gymnasium Wednesday night in front of their home fans, it was no longer a matter of if they could perform well, but rather how high they could go.

After a spirited and near flawless routing that garnered 225 points, the answer was a first-place finish.

Competing in the Conference 21 Tournament against rivals Sherando and James Wood, as well as Woodgrove, Loudoun County, Heritage, Park View and Dominion, Millbrook bested them all to finish in first, 18 points ahead of runner-up Woodgrove (207).

The top four teams, which included James Wood (204) and Sherando (197.5), advance to the 4A North Region Tournament at King George High School on Nov. 1.

Pioneers coach Dawnette Jones said the time and effort her team has put in since last year is really paying off.

“The girls went out there and nailed everything,” said Jones, whose team didn’t receive any deductions. “It was beautiful and so much fun to watch. We did exactly what the judges had asked us to do from last week and made those changes to make sure our timing was down.”

Jones said the stunts she has her girls do are difficult and weren’t as solid last week as they were Wednesday, so she was very proud to see the way the girls performed.

“Stunts weren’t as solid last week so we made sure we focused on that and our timing in practice this week to prepare for the competition,” said Jones, whose team finished second to Sherando in both the Northwestern District and Conference 21 mini-competition the last two weeks.

The announcement of the results had the crowd anxiously waiting to see who finished first. The Millbrook crowd roared in excitement as their team had finished first with cheerleaders jumping into each other’s arms in excitement.

Millbrook senior Haley Hassinger said it was by far her team’s best performance.

“I went in thinking we were the underdogs of the competition after last week, but knew we had a good routine going in,” Hassinger said. “We laid our hearts out on the mat and I know everyone did their best. This was by far our best performance and I am extremely proud of everyone on the team.”

After third-place finishes each of the past two weeks, James Wood placed third again with 204 points, three behind runner-up Woodgrove.

“We are really happy with the results as we came out strong,” said senior captain Alex Stanford. “We improved from the last competition and no matter what we placed we are just happy to move on and to get better for our next competition at regionals.”

The Colonels were able to take the constructive criticism from the judges last week and use that for the tournament on Wednesday.

“We built on the comments from the judges from last week,” Stanford said. “We went with what they said, made some slight changes, nothing too serious, and came out stronger and tighter which was our biggest thing to build on.”

“We improved on what the judges were looking for from last week and will take the comments from tonight to use and continue to build for region which I think we can finish top two in next week,” added James Wood assistant coach Wendi DeMaio.

Stanford said the team really came together this week.

“I was really happy with how our team came together tonight, which was really big,” Stanford said. “This was something that we’ve been striving for to compete as a team and all win it together, so we are happy with our results and will look to build on that together.”

The Colonels finished 6½ points ahead of fourth-place Sherando.

Despite a finish that left many members of Sherando’s team visibly upset and frustrated after back-to-back first-place finish that past two weeks, Warrior coach Charisse Woodward said her team will continue to keep its spirit up and increase the difficulty as it looks to bounce back.

“Overall I think the competition was really tight and really fierce and I think we did our best,” Woodward said. “We are going to increase the difficulty of our stunts and make sure we do the best that we can for regionals.”

Finishing just outside the top four teams was Dominion with 183 points.