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The longest season of any high school sport wrapped up with another glorious chapter for Lemont’s cheerleading team.
Coming off the 2009 state title in the Medium Squad Division, Lemont duplicated the feat with two solid routines in the 2010 finals last weekend in Bloomington.
The best came Saturday, when the Indians scored 90.56 points in the finals to fend off runner-up Riverside Brookfield (89.08) and two other schools with scores above 88 and produce a state title repeat.
“Our season is 10 months a year, with several competitions,” said Lemont senior Alyssa Baffoe, one of nine members on both state title teams. “We were practicing five days a week for two or three hours a day every day leading up to state. Every girl on the mat could do the routine in their sleep.
“And it’s not just practice, but everyone was going to tumbling as a team. They got rid of that halfway through the season, but we were still expected to go to a tumbling coach on our own. So you had to spend one hour a week with a private coach.”
All that practice paid off, and the unity developed over years of competing in big meets together was a key factor.
“It’s a credit to the girls,” Baffoe said. “All four years I’ve been here we’ve had different coaches, either assistants or head coaches. Our current head coach, Brittany Glowa (a former DePaul cheerleader in her second year), has done a great job, but I think it’s mostly been the girls and the drive that we have among each other to win.
A lot of the girls know each other. I’ve been on the team for three or four years with most of them, but we also had nine new girls on varsity this year, two from different schools and two freshmen. But on the team we all grew close, and a couple of us had done gymnastics with one of the freshmen.”
Another of the newcomers needing few introductions was Baffoe’s sister Annie, a junior.
“Me and Annie are really close,” Baffoe said, “and this year if something was happening in either of our lives we knew we had each other’s backs. It was awesome having her on the team.”
Under then-coach Brandi Selby, Lemont took third at the 2006 state meet and second in both 2007 and 2008. That long history of state success had the Indians ready for their current two-year run, right down to mastering a plan of pre-routine preparation.
The longest season of any high school sport wrapped up with another glorious chapter for Lemont’s cheerleading team.
Coming off the 2009 state title in the Medium Squad Division, Lemont duplicated the feat with two solid routines in the 2010 finals last weekend in Bloomington.
The best came Saturday, when the Indians scored 90.56 points in the finals to fend off runner-up Riverside Brookfield (89.08) and two other schools with scores above 88 and produce a state title repeat.
“Our season is 10 months a year, with several competitions,” said Lemont senior Alyssa Baffoe, one of nine members on both state title teams. “We were practicing five days a week for two or three hours a day every day leading up to state. Every girl on the mat could do the routine in their sleep.
“And it’s not just practice, but everyone was going to tumbling as a team. They got rid of that halfway through the season, but we were still expected to go to a tumbling coach on our own. So you had to spend one hour a week with a private coach.”
All that practice paid off, and the unity developed over years of competing in big meets together was a key factor.
“It’s a credit to the girls,” Baffoe said. “All four years I’ve been here we’ve had different coaches, either assistants or head coaches. Our current head coach, Brittany Glowa (a former DePaul cheerleader in her second year), has done a great job, but I think it’s mostly been the girls and the drive that we have among each other to win.
A lot of the girls know each other. I’ve been on the team for three or four years with most of them, but we also had nine new girls on varsity this year, two from different schools and two freshmen. But on the team we all grew close, and a couple of us had done gymnastics with one of the freshmen.”
Another of the newcomers needing few introductions was Baffoe’s sister Annie, a junior.
“Me and Annie are really close,” Baffoe said, “and this year if something was happening in either of our lives we knew we had each other’s backs. It was awesome having her on the team.”
Under then-coach Brandi Selby, Lemont took third at the 2006 state meet and second in both 2007 and 2008. That long history of state success had the Indians ready for their current two-year run, right down to mastering a plan of pre-routine preparation.
“Last year and this year we’ve tried to avoid pressure before competition,” Baffoe said. “Behind the curtains waiting to come out (for the state routine) we just stay positive and even talk about other things. There’s no ‘we have to hit this,’ but more like ‘we can do this in our sleep, there’s no pressure.’
“This year we had two really perfect routines. Last year we won by four points which was really huge, but this year the competition was better and really close. We really had to hit a perfect routine to win and overcome some tough competition, and we win by a point and a half.”
As with anything, the emotions of winning a second title are different than the first.
“Last year we had been waiting so long to win that championship, and it was amazing,” Baffoe said. “This year I can’t even describe. It was an awesome accomplishment.”
Besides Baffoe, captain Katie Wallace, Crystal Wohead, Kelsey Wall, Paige Rallis and Sarah Clancy were seniors on both teams.
Baffoe plans to try out for the University of Louisville cheerleading team next year, just one of the Lemont standouts looking to move on to the next level.
“I’m not sure where Katie Wallace will go, but she’s an amazing cheerleader,” Baffoe said. “Sarah Clancy might be trying out for Western Illinois, and Kelsey Wall is going to try for the North Central team.”
While those two-time state champions are likely not done cheering, Lemont will return three team members (Lindsay Bromberek, Emily Marzo and Nicole May) who will seek a third straight state title.
