BANGOR – Maybe the St. Dominic Regional High School cheerleading squad knew what it was doing when it began tying back its hair with bows made of yellow caution tape.

Danger and difficulty have followed the Saints ever since they adopted the former as a theme for this year’s competition routine. Senior Hannah Wiley suffered a torn knee ligament at the regional meet. Late in the two-week break between that competition and Saturday’s Class C state final at Bangor Auditorium, four girls caught the flu.

Just imagine how dangerous the Saints might be if they ever left the floor without someone limping or nursing a fever. All the agony aside, St. Dom’s completed its championship sweep in style, capturing its seventh state title and first since 2005.

“I’ve been on the team since I was freshman, and we’ve been trying to win states every year,” said senior co-captain Logan Michaud. “We always came up a little bit short, but this year we made it all the way.”

Three other local schools celebrated runner-up honors Saturday at a seven-hour meet witnessed by 5,000 fans from Fort Fairfield to Berwick. The beauty of those medals was in the eye of the beholder, though.

Lewiston was penalized five points for a prone landing – an identical penalty to one the Blue Devils incurred here in 2007 – allowing Biddeford to sneak away with the Class A crown.

Monmouth finished its feast of seconds in the conference, regional and state meets, again chasing St. Dom’s in Class C. Rangeley rejoiced at its best-ever Class D finish, trailing only repeat champion Central Aroostook.

State competition was scaled back to one performance this year. Previously the top four teams in each division were required to hit their routine a second time in a callback round.

“Typically St. Dom’s usually goes out the first time and nails it, so it’s good for us,” said Laurie Servidio, who co-coached the Saints along with Kayla Koss.

Junior alternate Emily Durgin drew rave reviews from her teammates for her role as Wiley’s replacement.

“We just came out and did everything we wanted to do,” said senior captain Erynne Landry. “We were dangerous. We put our best foot forward, and at the end of the day it showed. We left everything on the mat today.”

St. Dom’s (134.5) topped Monmouth (131) by a slim margin that looked spacious by comparison to the two-tenths of a point that separated the teams at the West regional.

The Saints also gained ground on Monmouth in the category of most all-time titles. The Mustangs own the all-class record of eight in Class C and D, combined.

“They came together once again as they always seem to do,” Servidio said. “We didn’t have to change anything. We had people sick with the flu, on the mat, going all-out for two minutes and 30 seconds.”

While Monmouth’s finishing position was a familiar one, smiles were wider and eyes were drier than after the Mustangs’ previous close call against St. Dom’s.

“I don’t really care for odd numbers, so I’m happy with the number two,” joked Monmouth coach Leanne Yeaton Burnham. “We had some bobbles, but we definitely blew it out of the water on jumps. The difficulty we added to our dance really showed, and we were rewarded with our highest dance scores, too.”

“We kept our streak going,” said Monmouth senior Emily Johnson. “We did really well in our jumps. We went over our goal of what we were trying to do for that.”

Even with the mandatory five-point deduction for a Devil’s stomach touching the mat, Lewiston finished with an astonishing 160.3 points out of a possible 175.

It took an unheard-of final tally of 164.9 to give Biddeford back-to-back championships.

Lewiston coach Lynnette Morency attributed the minor flaw to the Devils’ high-octane, high-risk routine.

“That’s the chance you take in this sport,” she said. “We’ve never done well in Bangor. Two years ago we had the same thing happen.”

Rangeley’s team of nine, including three boys, improved two spots from its regional result in a razor-close Class D competition. Removing champion Central Aroostook from the equation, just over eight points separated the other seven teams in the draw.

“It was spirit and energy and confidence. They went out and they sold it. They said, ‘We want this,’ and they took it,” Rangeley coach Tracy Cavalier said of her team. “They just had something this year. I really pushed them because I saw something in them and knew they could do it.”

Hermon won its second Class B title in three years.

The top three teams in each division qualified to compete at the New England meet March 21 in Durham, N.H.

A record 15 local schools performed in the state finals. Oxford Hills, Edward Little, Mountain Valley, Poland, Gray-New Gloucester, Lisbon, Oak Hill, Dirigo, Jay, Livermore Falls and Buckfield also took the mat Saturday.