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By JOSH MINER
BEEKMANTOWN — Overcoming the loss of one of their own, Northeastern Clinton Central School flipped their way to a cheerleading crown for the third year in a row.
The annual Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Cheerleading Competition was held at Beekmantown High School recently, featuring six squads from the region.
STUNNED BY DEATH
NCCS nearly opted out of the competition this year following the tragic automobile accident of cheerleader Morgin Baker.
Coach Stephanie Gaudette gave her team the option of ending the season early, but they clearly wanted to go on.
"It was very difficult for my girls," Gaudette said. "They had to come together as a team."
In the face of the loss, the team decided they would forge ahead and try to match the previous years' success.
"They wanted to do it for her," Gaudette said.
Kelly Pavilaitis, a NCCS senior who shares captain duties for the team, said the moment of silence and recognition of Morgin preceding the competition spoke volumes. All the teams came together for one of their own, she said, and that further encouraged the Cougars to excel.
"That's why we pushed for the win so hard," Pavilaitis said.
"Our team is more like a family than a team."
KEEP IT SIMPLE
At basketball games after the loss, the NCCS girls began wearing pink in Morgin's memory, leaving an empty seat where she would have been sitting.
For the competition, however, her shoes had to be filled.
"We knew Morgin would have been very upset if we didn't," Pavilaitis said.
The NCCS squad practiced six days a week for two hours. The theme this year, Gaudette said, was to keep it simple, which she felt was a major factor in their success.
PERU, AVCS
Peru Central School cheerleaders won second place in the competition, with AuSable Valley coming in third.
"I was very impressed with the other squads this year," Gaudette said.
Pavilaitis agreed, saying she was glad to see an increased level of competition this year compared to years past.
"It was definitely a close competition. All the other teams came out with their best stuff."
Each squad has two and a half minutes for its routine, with a minute and a half of that time accompanied by music. Gaudette mixes their music herself, and although hip-hop is a part of the mix, she likes to vary it with other genres as well.
"I personally like to use music that's not on the radio."
FEWER SQUADS
Interest in the sport has dwindled, Gaudette said, with two teams, Plattsburgh and Northern Adirondack high schools, unable to produce large enough squads to compete this year.
Gaudette said that when the competition was "grounded" in 2006, fans were disappointed.
According to a study released by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, cheerleading accounted for more catastrophic injuries than all other female sports combined, at 65.2 percent.
Because of findings like those, the flips and tosses in the air that had been so common to routines in the past have been banned in many competitions.
"That is the reason that fan numbers dropped," Gaudette said. "The fans just aren't as excited about it."
MORE FLEXIBILITY
Regulations have changed so some air flips can be done, but the CVAC has stopped short of "un-grounding" the competition, believing it could be unsafe for contestants.
"I would love to see it changed back to what it used to be," Gaudette said. "I don't believe it's a danger," provided that the right precautions are taken.
"There's no reason to take it completely away."
Pavilaitis has never known what above the head flips and tosses do for a competition, as the rules took effect before she started cheering.
"For me, I've never been able to do those stunts."
Without those, however, she feels it gets reduced to a sort of dance routine, which makes it difficult for any CVAC squad to become competitive enough for state or national contests.
Despite the restrictions, Gaudette hopes interest will increase again and that the competition will return to the more spacious Plattsburgh State Field House, which had housed the competition during the past.
