LIHU‘E — You’re looking for the cheer squad? They’re coming, a deplaning United Airlines passenger said with a smile on Saturday. “They’re probably taking pictures,” said Stacie Hirokane, a parent and the 2011 cheer coordinator for the Lihu‘e Pop Warner
LIHU‘E — You’re looking for the cheer squad? They’re coming, a deplaning United Airlines passenger said with a smile on Saturday.
“They’re probably taking pictures,” said Stacie Hirokane, a parent and the 2011 cheer coordinator for the Lihu‘e Pop Warner Association. “They’ve been taking pictures everywhere and it was easy to follow them on social media.”
The Lihu‘e Patriots Junior Midget cheer squad with coach Krystal Pongasi were announced as national champions following their routine Wednesday at the National Pop Warner Cheer and Dance Championships in Orlando, Florida.
“You should have seen them,” said Mary Pigao, a team mom who accompanied the team. “They hit all their jumps and routine. It was awesome.”
Performing at ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, the Lihu‘e Patriots JM cheer squad edged out the Palm City Dolphins with a score of 86.02 percent to the Dolphins’ 85.82 percent.
Competition in the Junior Midge Cheer Level 3 Small category was tight with just .18 percent separating the third and fourth berths in the division.
Earlier in the week, the Hanapepe Colts Junior Peewee cheer squad, the only other team from Kaua‘i to travel to Florida, finished in eighth place in the JPW Cheer Level 1 Small division.
The Lihu‘e Patriots journey was a repeat for at least six of the girls who had traveled to Florida and the national competition two years ago. The gold eluded them on that trip.
In October, the Lihu‘e Patriots JM was one of six Kaua‘i Pop Warner Football League cheer squads to earn eligibility to the national championships following the daylong KPWFL Cheer Championships at Kaua‘i High School.
What followed was a series of fundraising efforts by parents and the Lihu‘e Pop Warner Association in an effort to get to Florida.
“We knew we were going at the start of the season,” Pongasi said. “The girls were all committed. We just needed to make the money to get there.”
The National Pop Warner Cheer and Dance Championships included about 400 squads competing in four age classifications.
The Kailua Mustangs from O‘ahu were the last Pop Warner cheer squad to bring home gold, earning top honors in the JPW small, intermediate class in 2008. Prior to that, the Kekaha Panthers brought home gold in the JPW small, novice division in 2004, breaking a 10-year drought after the Kapahulu Raiders, another O‘ahu squad, topped the Peewee division in 1994.
Visit www.popwarner.com for more information.
