KAPA‘A — Six Kaua‘i Pop Warner cheer squads earned qualification to the Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance competition Sunday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a. Working before an overflow audience at the gym in Kapa‘a and the prompting
KAPA‘A — Six Kaua‘i Pop Warner cheer squads earned qualification to the Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance competition Sunday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
Working before an overflow audience at the gym in Kapa‘a and the prompting of emcee Augie T, the squads competed for the right to advance to Florida.
That competition coincides with the Pop Warner Super Bowl played in Orlando, Fla., in early December.
However, the qualification does not entitle the squads to a free trip. Instead, the squads that elect to advance to the national competition now gear up for a series of fundraisers to help defray the expenses of traveling to the competition that runs Dec. 8-12.
Yvonne Hosaka, the Wescon cheer coordinator, said the first two places of the three divisions competing earn the qualifications for a total of six berths from Kaua‘i.
The Kekaha Pop Warner Association finished by taking two first place finishes at the 2009 Regional Cheer Competition hosted by the Kapa‘a Eagles Pop Warner Association.
Kekaha Panthers edged out the Lihu‘e Patriots by less than two points for first place in the Junior Pee Wee Novice Small category. The Panthers garnered 69.7 points over the Patriots’ 68.5 points. The Kapa‘a Eagles rounded out the leaderboard of that division with 59.5 points.
The Kekaha Seahawks ruled the Junior Midget Intermediate Small division with the highest score of the day at 75.33 points to earn one of the Florida berths. The Hanapepe Colts Junior Midget squad followed with 73.90 points and the Koloa Rams rounded out that division with 63.67 points.
The Lihu‘e Patriots earned its second berth to the Pop Warner nationals with a first finish in the Junior Midget Novice Small division. It pulled in an impressive 71.0 points over the Kapa‘a Eagles’ squad that also earned the right to advance with 69.83 points.
Fans were treated to exhibition performances from the Hanapepe and Koloa Mitey Mites cheer squad as well as from all three of Kaua‘i’s high schools.
Judges included Garrin Gosnell, head cheer coach at Hawai‘i Pacific University, William Scott Sample, a three-year cheerleader with Wichita State, Savanna Sibley, a five-year cheerleader with Hawai‘i Pacific University, Kara Catlin, an All Star cheerleader and coach from Denver, and Dustin Walston, whose credentials included six years of cheering for Stephen Austin State University, Trinity Valley Community College and the Hawai‘i Pacific University.
