St. Raphael football cheerleaders win state title
PAWTUCKET – Neither St. Raphael Academy head coaches Barbara LaBree and Kalyn Messier nor their varsity football cheerleaders ever expected such an outstanding Halloween, that’s for sure.
On that October afternoon, the previously-horrified Saints discovered they hadn’t officially finished a distant fourth at the annual R.I. Interscholastic League Game Day Competition, one held four days before at the Community College of Rhode Island-Warwick’s gymnasium, but instead won.
Sound confusing? Just wait; it gets better.
Or more frightful if you’re a
Saint.
Wind back to Sunday, Oct. 27, and SRA performed what both coaches deemed a near-flawless performance while competing within the Small Schools’ Division. In it, this particular grouping of 18 girls were asked by judges to execute a three-minute routine introducing four detailed categories – among them Band Chant (no gymnastics-like tumbles allowed), Situational Cheer (based on a certain phase of a real football game); Spirit Cheer (crowd leading); and Fight Song.
The Saints did, compiling a total of 160.5 points. The issue, however, stemmed from the “scorekeepers,” who mistakenly delivered the divisional first-place plaque to North Smithfield, which had mustered a distant 139.7.
“Originally, they were not announced the champions but in fourth place,” LaBree chuckled before the winter basketball/competitive cheerleading teams’ inaugural practice at the Fallon Elementary School gym on Friday night. “They had done all the math wrong at the competition; they left one complete score sheet off our total, which is why it appeared we placed fourth.
“The tabulators, whoever it was adding it up, apparently forgot a score sheet,” she added. “People in the crowd were stopping us (after the event closed), saying they couldn’t believe we didn’t win. Even the state fire marshal, who was simply standing at the door, came looking for us. He told me, ‘I can’t believe you didn’t win.’ We were puzzled, too, but I just told our kids (initially), ‘They apparently didn’t like our routine, but we’re going to go back and work even harder and change some things.’
“Once we got on the team bus and we had the score sheets, Kalyn and I were looking at them, and our two scores (of 87.6 and 72.9) were both higher than North Smithfield; we were thinking, ‘This can’t be right!’ So I went back inside and found some people, told them of the mixup and one of them said, ‘Oh, my God! We’ll look into it.”
Offered Messier: “Most of the girls didn’t know until much later. We only had four girls on the bus as the others had left to go home with their parents. They didn’t tell us until four days later, at Halloween, that we had won. They had to take the (team) plaques back from the other teams.”
In the end, the result of this “Cheerleader” soap opera was vindication, but that’s not the most impressive thing about the SRA team. Instead, it’s how a relatively brand new program is beginning to thrive under the leadership of the two mentors.
A year ago, in LaBree’s and Messier’s first fall season at the helm, the Saints captured the Game Day crown (in what was then known as the non-tumbling category). They also finished second in the Game Day winter competition behind West Warwick (again in non-tumbling), then accepted third (out of five clubs) in the state competitive cheer event.
“The thing about the Game Day thing is there are requirements in each category, but it’s all based mostly on school spirit and synchronization of the moves and stunts,” Messier said. “It’s still a competition, but it’s oriented more on the traditional elements of cheer (without all the handstands, tumbling, etc.).”
Both she and LaBree admit being pleasantly surprised by this group, mostly because it had to disband during the 2017-18 season due to extenuating circumstances, mainly difference in coaching philosophies.
Enter LaBree and Messier, who immediately set down some ground rules, even ultimatums.
“This win is so important to our girls because of that winter,” offered LaBree, who was a cheerleader at Attleboro High in the early/mid 1980s and Framingham State College during the later years in the decade. “When we came in, we knew we were starting over and that we had to lay down the law. We set strict rules about attendance, work ethic, jewelry being worn (which is none), keeping grades up and being respectful of the coaches, themselves and others within the school. The means everybody.
“Right now, the school is very happy with our cheer program,” she continued. “Why? Because they’re acting differently; they’re being treated differently because of the way they’re acting. They’re not treated as, well, stereotypical cheerleaders because they’re respectful.
“We have three seniors on this team – including Ava Librizzi, Victoria Biagetti and Nicole Pajara – but we don’t have captains, at least not yet. Maybe sometime down the road. We didn’t feel like that was the way we wanted to start, meaning having somebody in charge besides us.”
The two mentors indicated they want to continue the momentum from claiming the fall Game Day title during the rest of the competitive (and basketball) cheer campaign.
They nevertheless point out that while some of these athletes will be the same entering this winter phase, some are different.
“We were thrilled that we won (in October), but we’re starting brand new with this practice (Friday night), and we’ll be back in the Saints’ gym (Saturday morning),” LaBree said. “Seriously, our goal is to do both the Game Day and the state competition like we did last year.
“My goal is always just to put out a clean, clean routine, to go out there and do everything you can just to look nice, with no falls, no trips.”
Chipped in Messier: “We never ask them to win; as long as we know that they did their best, we’re happy with them. If they give 110 percent, we’re even more thrilled. So far so good.”
Among those Game Day grid champions in October: The seniors Librizzi, Biagetti and Pajaro; juniors Tanya Almeida, Angelyna Martinez, Aliyah Gonzalves, Kyla D’Eletto, Sophia Bianchi, Mary-Nicole Hunsberger and Kianna Ley Pereyra; sophomores Aliza Monroy, Makenzie Godin, Abigail Medeiros and Diana Lopes; and frosh Juliet Laurens, Theresa Valencia, Chloe Porcelli and Leah DosSantos.