Cheerleading: Joliet West, Lemont claim state titles

BLOOMINGTON – Go ahead and label the Joliet West and Lemont cheerleading teams dynasties.

The two programs that have been so dominant in recent seasons were at their best Saturday when it counted most, as both claimed titles at the IHSA Cheerleading State Championships at Grossinger Motors Arena.

Joliet West, under coach Amy DiForti, easily won the Limestone Sectional title the previous weekend with 93.47 points, the best score in the large team division by more than two points over anyone else in the state.

The Tigers were just warming up.

In Friday’s preliminaries at state, they posted the top score in any of the four divisions with 92.93. Then in Saturday’s finals, they scored 94.44 to easily prevail. Marist was second at 90.13 and Stevenson third at 89.43.

Lincoln-Way East, which was second in the preliminaries in the large team division with a 90.07, finished seventh with 85.51 in the finals.

The state title was West’s second in three years and third straight trophy. The Tigers, who have been to state eight consecutive years, won in 2016 and were second to Lincoln-Way East in 2017.

West roster members are Alyssa Anderson, Kennedy Aubry, Hope Benavidez, Kelsey Bishop, Maddie Blenck, Leah Combs, Lea Delattre, Sara Dinardo, Cheyenne Eads, Mikayla Garcia, Katie Gibson, Makayla Hurd, Taylor Latta, Arielle Lindsey, Mario McGowan, Lindsey McCrea, Nya Mitchell, Jazmin Morales, Haley Nurczyk, Jessica Orr, Tia Roland, Lexi Stariha and Julia Todd.

Then there’s Lemont and coach Dave Erlenbaugh.

Making their 13th straight state appearance, the Indians edged preliminary-round leader Crystal Lake Central in the medium division, 91.20-90.77. The title is Lemont’s second straight and sixth overall. The program has earned 12 state trophies in 13 seasons and never has finished lower than fourth at state.

Lemont’s six state championships and 12 state trophies both are the most for any cheerleading program. Before the last two years, the Indians won in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014, were second in 2007, 2008, 2013 and 2016 and took third in 2006 and 2012.

Erlenbaugh’s team includes seniors Gia Baldassano, Katie Boyle, Andrew Gonzalez, Julie Hughes, Natalie Kearney, Claudia Kociubinski, Marissa May and Stephanie Pinczes; juniors Lizzy Adell, Juliana DeSantis, Morgan Divis, Olivia Guzy, Marissa Loisi, Kate Roenitz, Abby Ryan and Alison Tasso; sophomores Olivia Nelson, Claire O’Malley and Morgan Wrublik, and freshman Alyiah Ward.

Meanwhile, Lockport in the coed division and Reed-Custer in the small team division also returned home with trophies by virtue of third-place finishes.

The Porters posted a finals score of 89.91 to finish behind champion Belvidere North (93.97) and Grant (91.60). Plainfield South was fourth at 86.36.

Lockport was at state for the 13th consecutive year, but this was its first foray into the coed division. Porters roster members are Alaina Alberico, Ariana Chudzik, Grace Crosby, Mackenzie Everett, Morgan Fahey, Kenzie Fischer, Jocelyn Gaydos, Isabella Giertuga, Rachael Howard, Brooke Johnston, Jake Martinez, Grace Motisi, Hannah Park, Marissa Pasco, Aubree Peters, Nina Piazza, Cassandra Rasp, Regan Reposh, Hannah Rimkus, Sydney Scherp, Kara Skevis, Halle Sweis, Natalee Styrczula, Halle Sweis, Grady Travis and Libby Walton.

Reed-Custer totaled 85.03 points in the small team division, where Rockford Lutheran won with 88.17 and Farmington had 86.71. The Comets, who finished second last year, beat out Wilmington, which scored 83.16 to finish fourth, for the final trophy position.

The Reed-Custer roster includes Skylar Allen, Madeline Bollino, Cammy Esparza, Karen Gonski, Laura Gonski, Lily Kilpatrick, Sarah Leadingham, Destanie Nacey, Darby O’Shea, Macy Pfeifer, Lainie Shepherd, and Kiley Terry.

Five other area schools were at state but did not make the finals. Lincoln-Way Central took 12th in large team with 82.23 points, 0.41 behind the final qualifier. Others in the preliminaries were Bolingbrook (79.51, coed), Minooka (78.83, coed), Plainfield North (72.23, large) and Morris (69.0, medium).