JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Kamehameha captured its fourth state championship and first under coach Melissa Beimes.

Warriors, Menehunes
bring good cheer

A new squad and two first-year coaches upheld tradition yesterday at the Zippy's State Cheerleading Championships.

Despite just four returnees, Kamehameha won its fourth straight title at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Warriors claimed the large division with 241.50 points, while Moanalua defended its medium-division title with 248 points.

Both teams were guided by first-year coaches.

Kamehameha won its first two state titles in the medium division and won the large championship last year, while Moanalua won the large division in 2003.

"It's a tradition for our school," Kamehameha junior Alyssa Kong said. "It comes from within and everyone feels it in our school. It's definitely a difficult task (to uphold tradition), but because we've won so many times, there's a lot of drive in us.

"I felt like I had to do my job. I was feeling really confident and I just wanted to show everyone we're the same team from Kamehameha and we're the same squad."

First-year coach Melissa Beimes had the difficult task of filling the shoes left by former Kamehameha coach Dolly Wong. Wong guided the Warriors to their first three state titles, along with several national crowns.

"With Dolly leaving and not having as many returnees as we usually do, it was a tough year," Beimes said. "It's been a struggle the whole way through, but they just did their job. All we wanted them to do was to do their routine.

"(Dolly) has been in charge of the whole program and there are a lot of things we had to think about," Beimes said. "It's big shoes to fill, but because I cheered under and coached under her for a long time (seven years), I knew for the most part what needed to be done and she was there when I needed her."

When Tammie Picklesimer took over Moanalua's program this year, she knew the difficulty of filling the shoes vacated by former coach Sherry Faildo.

"You come into a program with high expectations and you have to rise to the occasion," Picklesimer said. "We just kept practicing and doing what we know how to do best. That is execute as clean and sharp and to stay positive.

"I knew our girls had the potential. We have so much talent on our squad and I knew we could do it. But it's always mind over matter."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM The Warriors captured the Zippy's State Cheerleading Championships large division last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A new scoring system was implemented for this year's championships. The Target Point System is a method in which teams are judged based on their skills, performance and execution. For the first time in the tournament's four-year history, teams had to execute specific requirements and points were awarded based on the execution of the routine.

Previously, there were no specific requirements for a team's routine.

"It (the new scoring system) was mostly based on cleanliness and that is what our team is about," Moanalua senior Megan Batura said. "It was proven tonight. We didn't really stick everything, but we were sharp. There's no way anybody else should be rejecting the scoring system."

"It was easier to know we need to have this, to get this amount of points," Beimes added. "Of course, with everything new, it's always a challenge."

The Warriors kept their routine from last week's Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship meet, but made their basket toss at the end more difficult.

"We've been working on it for a while," Kong said of the basket toss. "We haven't had it as well as we wanted (it to be) to put into the routine. But it was pretty easy to work it in."

Baldwin was second in the large division with 218.50 points, while Radford was runner-up for the fourth year, totaling 237.50 points in the medium division.

Radford finished second in the medium division in 2002 and 2003 and in the large division last year.

"We're really disappointed," said Radford coach Bo Frank.

Radford fans booed the second-place announcement.

Frank was an outspoken critic of the new scoring system last week after the OIA championship meet. He felt squads were still being judged on style as opposed to actual performance.

Frank said he couldn't even look senior Brittiany Broadwater, a two-time all-state MVP, in the face after the results were announced. Radford leaves tonight for the AmeriCheer International Championships in Orlando, Fla., looking to win for the third-straight time.