Mililani breaks through

Radford defends its medium division championship

The gold went home with the golden team.

The Mililani Trojans, with a highly charged routine that accentuated their depth of athleticism, upset five-time defending state champion Kamehameha to capture the large-squad division title of the Zippy's/HHSAA Cheerleading Championships yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The brown-and-gold clad Trojans of Mililani accumulated 332.5 points to edge Kamehameha's total of 327 for their first state championship.

It was quite a turnaround for Mililani, which placed fourth in the Oahu Interscholastic Association championships last week.

"We wanted to clean up the routine, make it hit more," eighth-year coach Renesha Kierstedt said. "The routine had their heart, soul and emotion in it."

Kamehameha had won titles not only in the last three years of large-division competition, but also in the medium-squad division in 2002 and '03.

"We didn't get to see them (the Trojans), but we heard they executed their routine," Kamehameha coach Melissa Beimes said.

Kamehameha, which was the last of the three large-squad teams to perform, opened its routine with help from a five-member drum group. However, early in the Warriors' routine, they had a clear drop.

The error came on a single base, a rarity for a Warrior program that prides itself on precision. They finished strong, but it wasn't enough to overtake Mililani.

"Our mistake was at least a 6-point penalty, maybe more for time," Beimes noted.

Judges wound up deducting eight points from Kamehameha for errors. Mililani did not have any points deducted.

Radford captured its second medium-squad state championship in a row with a total of 336 points. Baldwin was runner-up with 318 and Moanalua was third with 308. Waiakea (307.5) and Aiea (302.5) rounded out the top five.

"Our overall difficulty, I think we maxed out our score sheet," veteran Radford coach Bo Frank said.

The Rams were just shy of perfection.

"I was satisfied," said Frank, looking ahead to the AmeriCheer International championships in Orlando, Fla., in March.

Though the Rams don't have a plethora of boys on the squad now, they still do a complex set of difficult maneuvers. The moves, though, have been toned down just a bit recently.

"Before, all we worried about was hitting the difficulty," Frank said of his team, which has three freshmen and three sophomores. "We've learned over the years to clean it up and put it together. They had the heart to do a difficult routine clean. The kick-doubles are still there, and we double from all our tricks."

For the Mililani Trojans, a team without seniors, the novelty of their achievement was almost lost.

"We've practiced a lot," freshman Annalise Ferreira said. "We've been doing the same routine for a long time, but we added the baskets, the full-up toe touch, two days ago."

The young team was brimming with confidence early in the day.

"We were hitting it during warm-ups," said Ferreira, who is a base and a flyer.

Members of the Mililani Trojans are: Chelsie Abear, Marcy Chun, Annalise Ferreira, Taylor Kam, Mishon Kawaguchi, Allysen Kikumoto, Tracy Martinez, Divine McMahon, Jaime Tenorio, Desiree Toribio and Chelsea Villamor.

Members of the Radford Rams are: Malyssa Barbasa, Ashley Ann Carter, Warren Carter, Samantha Dickens, Kyra Ann Fong, Arlene Gines, Rachel Gines, Keisha Pamaylaon, Britneyrose Petros, Mary Pierce and Cortney Williams.

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