Northmen-Mounties make big strides at New Englands
After struggling at state meet, co-op squad shows big improvement at regional meet Saturday
NORTH SMITHFIELD — At last week’s state Competitive Cheerleading Championships held in Providence, the North Smithfield/Mount St. Charles Co-op squad failed to manufacture its finest routine and finished a disappointing fourth among five teams competing in the Large Division.
While NS/MSC assembled a less-than-stellar, disappointing team score of 158.40 points, rival Tolman captured the state title with a terrific 176.50 points.
During the final, and biggest event, of the season, the New England Championships held at Southern New Hampshire University in Hooksett on Saturday afternoon, the Northmen/Mounties managed an outing for the ages. The competitive team of 13 performers (there are 16 on the active roster) danced, twisted, hand-springed and hoisted its way to its finest routine of the campaign, notching a season-high 172.70 points to collect sixth among 11 other contingents from across the region in Division III.
In fact, it finished only 4.60 points behind fifth-place Waterford, Conn.
“Oh, my God, it was amazing. We were completely over the moon with how well they did,” gushed Alicia Heon, the NS head coach who works in concert with MSC lead mentors Karen and Bill Dickie. “With the weather as bad it was the week of the New Englands, we had less practice time. It was more difficult to organize sessions with the two schools, because if one postpones school for the day, we can’t practice; we’re not allowed to.
“The girls just nailed everything,” she continued. “What surprised me the most was they knew it was their last performance of the season, but they left everything they had out on the mat. They didn’t bow to the pressure but embraced it, especially the seniors. They knew, ‘This is it!’ and they actually seemed more relaxed.”
Heon claimed she had a few questions to answer from some of the girls’ parents, not to mention her own, about why they meshed so well on Saturday after the “iffy” outing at states.
“The way I explained it was it’s like showing up at the Super Bowl with a totally different set of referees and a different rule book; people judge stunts differently from state to state,” she said. “Honestly, the girls absolutely blew my mind,” she added. “Ironically, two of our alternates were standing next to me, as was Brittany Dickie (the Dickie’s daughter and NS/MSC Dance Coordinator); Brittany couldn’t watch, so she kept asking me, ‘Did they hit it? Did they hit it?’ And I was saying, ‘God, yes. God, yes.’ We all were freaking out.”
Heon wanted to highlight the seven seniors who performed in their final high school meet of their careers. Among them, from Mount, co-captain Frankie DeLuca and classmates Arley Imbibmo, Amanda Duffy and Maeve Reynolds; and NS co-captain Gianna Paul, Lindsey Mackey and Gianna Sarmiento.
“Even given the changes in judges from meet to meet, they improved by 14.3 points, and that’s huge,” Heon stated. “It’s incredible. The kids actually said, ‘You mean we outscored Tolman and Pilgrim, and I just answered, ‘Yes, you did.’”
Saying the results of the event touched more than a few would be a massive understatement.
“The girls were crying, my husband was crying, I was crying and so was Brittany,” Karen laughed. “They worked so hard all season, and to see them rewarded for it was so special. They were up against the top teams from Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
“Earlier in the week, we had the snow, we had the exams and some sickness,” she continued. “Trying to get some of the kids to all of the practices was really hard, but they were so happy. My kids were ecstatic.
“You know, it was a relief because I’ve been telling all of them all season, ‘You’ve got to believe in yourselves. You’ve got to believe.’ When it was all over, they knew they did. It was so satisfying.
“My little captain, Frankie (DeLuca), she was sobbing, but they were tears of joy. She was so happy … You know what? The way I look at it, we made Rhode Island proud, and our two schools proud. I’m so proud of my kids. I’ve seen them grow up over the past four years; I saw them as freshmen, just girls, and now they’re seniors and they’re outstanding young women.
“It’s been an amazing ride.”