Shoreham-Wading River cheerleading's strong energy wins Class B title

The gymnasium at Sachem North High School was loud throughout the Suffolk Game Day cheer championships. But the final performance of the day had the gym shaking.

Shoreham-Wading River brought nothing but energy and excitement to the mat and put together its best performance of the season, earning a 92.20 to win the Suffolk Class B title on Sunday.

The Wildcat supporters in the bleachers matched the girls’ energy and even sang the team’s fight song word for word.

“The girls bring so much excitement to the mat that our crowd has so much fun watching it,” coach Brie Carlen said. “Then our crowd goes wild because they’re having fun and it makes the routine even better.”

The Wildcats hadn’t scored above 90 until Tuesday’s competition and averaged an 88.29 this season. Sayville, which won last year’s inaugural county title, held an 88.18 average and took second place on Sunday with a 90.90

“Our mindset was that we have to push the hardest because last year, we really felt like we could’ve had this title,” senior Alexa Langenhahn said. “We’ve been neck-and-neck with Sayville so to outscore them today feels so good.”

Shoreham-Wading River advances to Sunday’s state championships at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.

“I really hope we do well. We’ve all been wanting this since last year,” senior Mery Macias said.

Joining the Wildcats in Troy will be Ward Melville and Babylon, which each won its second straight county title.

Ward Melville put on a clinic, bringing the energy for the entire routine to earn a 95.60 and win the Class A title.

“It’s hard to do for three minutes straight,” coach Georgia Gass said. “You have to build that endurance quickly. They start their practices by running to the entire routine and they say every word with volume while they run. That was their own idea and I loved that.”

The Patriots took second place at the state championship last year with a 92.70 and they’re ready to get over the hump.

“We know what it’s like to have that standard now,” junior Jessica Scardino said. “Being louder, having sharper motions, having a lot of energy, that’s what’s going to help us get to where we want to be.”

“I think we left it all out there last year,” senior Emma Miller added. “We walked off the mat and said that was the best we had ever done that routine. Going back up there, we just want to push more.”

Babylon is the only Class C team in Suffolk, but the Panthers showed significant improvement from last season.

“It’s a challenge going against yourself every week, but our own challenge for ourselves was to improve every single week and we did just that,” coach Kara Bochicchio said.

Babylon earned an 82.75 on Sunday, compared to its 71.40 in its sixth-place finish at last year’s state championship. Bochicchio called last year’s inaugural Game Day season a learning experience.

“Our communication is so much better,” senior Grace Keane said. “We learned how to work with each other better and just talk things out. I’m just over the moon that we get to compete on the states mat one last time.”