Baldwin Bears repeat as MIL cheer champs
Photo by by courtesy of Lee-Joseph Franco via Flickr
The Kamehameha Maui cheer team starts their routine at the Maui Interscholastic League championships Nov. 28 at Maui High School. They place third behind the Baldwin Bears and Maui High Sabers.
Baldwin High School placed first in the Maui Interscholastic League cheer competition with a score of 491.75 points, and Maui High placed second with a score of 370.50. Both Baldwin and Maui High will be flying to the state competition where both teams will compete against the winners from the other islands. This competition will be held at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Nov. 4.
The Bears were also first in the MIL last year and placed second at the state tourney by 6.75 points behind Mililani.
“It feels good [to be going to the tournament]. We are going to try take on our second-place title [from] last year” Baldwin coach Kealii Molina said. “[We wish to be] a little bit cleaner and a little tighter. Also to just hit harder.”
The cheerleaders are also looking forward to the challenge.
“It feels like a really big privilege because we don’t get these kind of opportunities to show what we can do, so that’s just awesome,” Baldwin cheerleader Madison Murayama said.
The Kamehameha Maui cheer team placed third with 351.50 points, followed by King Kekaulike (279.00) and Lahainaluna (263.25) this weekend.
The Kamehameha varsity cheer team is proud of what they were able to accomplish after a season of injuries, several within the last few weeks. With each injury, their routine needed to be adjusted and revised.
“We only learned our competition routine, not even a couple weeks before competition.” Sofia said. “Along the way we lost some people due to injuries. We did really good. Even though we didn’t make it to states, we gave it our all and left it all on the mat.”
Two teams competed at the junior varsity level. The junior Bears came in first, followed by Maui High’s jv squad.
