Waimea wins three in a row

The Waimea High School cheerleading squad won its third straight Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship yesterday at Kaua‘i High School by substantial margin.

With a final tally of 268.5 points, Waimea trumped its counterparts Kaua‘i (223.5) and Kapa‘a High School (205).

The Menehune, who went second in the rotation, came fully equipped with shiny props from blue and silver stars to their megaphone to their school flag. The team seemed to execute their routine flawlessly until they had a little slip.

“In the beginning, they were doing good, but when I saw the first fall, I was like ‘Oh no,’” said head cheerleading coach Roxanne Cardejon. “After that I was just banking on their tumbling.”

The fall was actually counted as a missed lift, which isn’t as bad as a drop.

“On the floor routine, we hit everything, but when we got to the lifts is where we missed,” she said.

Kaua‘i was first up and there appeared to some hesitation from the start.

A cheerleader dropped her pompom and when it was picked up by another, there was confusion as to who it belonged to. Then in the opening lift sequence in attempt to show “KHS,” the H was lifted sideways.

The Red Raiders had solid tumbling but was slightly wobbly on a few lifts.

Kapa‘a’s cheerleaders looked flawless until they too had a drop.

Waimea’s junior varsity squad also performed an exhibition routine

The score sheets are broken down into four parts: fundamentals (motions, jumps, dances and stunts), routine choreography, routine execution and overall performance.

All teams have only 2 minutes and 30 seconds to complete the routine.

Waimea now advances to the Zippy’s Cheerleading Championships on Sunday, Dec. 2 at the Stan Sheriff Center on O‘ahu.

This is Cardejon’s third tittle in the three years she has coached at Waimea.