Houlton cheerleaders capture PVC title; County runners-up

The Houlton High School cheerleaders captured the Penobscot Valley Conference title on Saturday in Millinocket and they were runner-ups in last Friday’s Aroostook County Championship in Caribou.
Houlton is led by two seniors — Dakota Jenkins and Jaclyn Hodgkins — and returning cheerleaders Emily Dee, Jessica Thorne, Lauren Bragan, Elizabeth Flint, Maggie Russell, Kristin Farwell, Taylor Forest, Sarah Bouchard, Erynne Howland, Ashley McNinch, Mikaela Tuttle and Crystal Nason, along with newcomers — Jennah Rand, Emily Dickison, Haley Flewelling, Morgan Wotton, Maddi Good, Autumn London, Caleigh Sullivan, Jackie Condon, Jasmine Hardy and Makala Miller.
The team is coached by Julie Dunn and Shari Good and assisted by Leah Bates and Taylor Lindsay.
Dunn said the cheerleaders only received their music the Wednesday before the competitions and had to work fast to get ready.
The Aroostook League Championship was the first time the team had performed their routine with an alternate added in.
“We had an injury and added the alternate to the routine last Tuesday,” Dunn explained.
Maddi Good was sidelined, but is now back in the rotation.
The competitions served as ways to see the routine all together and to show the team where it needed to concentrate its efforts to work out any kinks.
“I was very pleased with second place,” Dunn said. “It was good to get the routine out there.”
Dunn noted the reason Houlton likes to participate in these two competitions is that the judges provide work sheets.
“Now we know what we really have to work on,” she said. “It’s nice to find out what [moves] are illegal.”
Crystal Nason was named to the All-star tumbling squad.
On Saturday, the team earned a 128.9, edging out Central of East Corinth by one-tenth of a point.
“I think the difference was made in our non-stop action-packed [beginning to end] routine,” said Dunn. “Central, Dexter, Orono and Sumner were solid in their stunting, which is one of our weak areas. We’ve got to really work on stunting and cleaning up everything.”
Dunn believes Jeff Franklin’s choreography is what is crucial to the team’s success.
“He has a way of making a routine flow,” she said. “We are a very young team, with only two seniors. They are all working hard.”
The Houlton cheerleaders will be attending an MCCA event at Hermon High School on Saturday, Jan. 21.
“We will receive a verbal critique evaluation as the team is performing,” explained Dunn. “The verbal critique is new this year and will hopefully give us some good feedback.”
The next competition for the Houlton cheerleaders is the Regional Meet at 3 p.m. in Bangor on Saturday, Jan. 28.