BANGOR — The Lewiston Blue Devils earned their third straight Class A state cheering championship Monday, and Hermon did the same for Class B.

In the 23rd and final state cheering competition at the Bangor Auditorium, Lewiston edged Marshwood of South Berwick 167.7 to 166.3. Bangor finished third with 153.6. Scoring is based on a 175-point system.

Blue Devils coach Lynnette Morency was pleased her team hit everything correctly at the state meet.

“The is the first time all season they had a perfect routine,” said Morency. “And they did it at the 29th hour.”

And it came at the right time, too, because the Marshwood Hawks had posted their own clean routine minutes earlier.

“We had seen them perform, but our focus was on doing our routine,” said senior co-captain Kirsty Beauchesne. “We knew our routine was the caliber we needed and if we hit it, we would win.”

Lewiston and Marshwood each put up as many as six lift groups, and both teams’ synchronization and energy were strong.

“I have a lot of passion for the sport,” said Lewiston senior co-captain Kara Barnies, “and my job was to get them to come together and show their passion for the sport. We came together today.”

The Hawks posted 155 points in Class B to best runner-up Medomak Valley of Waldoboro, which had 148.1. Ellsworth was third with 146.8.

“This was their goal and they worked hard to achieve it,” said Hermon coach Kristie Reed.

Hermon had one stunt go wrong in the Eastern Maine championship, where the Hawks came in second to Ellsworth.

They worked on smoothing out that error and didn’t worry about what the other teams were doing.

“Our goal was to hit our routine,” Reed said. “The rest was not in our control.”

“We worked on perfecting everything,” said Hermon senior captain Katie Reynosa. “She [Reed] teaches us to work hard so we could hit it today.”

Hermon had to wait out the performances by the Medomak Valley Panthers, the Western Maine B champ, and Ellsworth.

The Panthers suffered a stumble in one of their tumbles. The Eagles performed clean as well, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Hawks.

“Work hard and get it done or not,” said Reed. “That was our motto the last couple of weeks [since the EM meet].”

“We knew we did our best,” said Reynosa, then laughed and added. “She told us don’t come off the mat unless we do our best.

“This was the best way to end senior year.”

Rounding out the Class A team scores were Noble of North Berwick 149.7, Edward Little of Auburn 142.2, Brewer 141.4, Gorham 139.9, Thornton Academy of Saco 133, Scarborough 132.1, Bonny Eagle of Standish 130.3, Oxford Hills of South Paris 129.4 and Hampden 122.

Members of the Lewiston squad are: Kelly Nuzzo, Meagan Murphy, Taylor Hopkins, Sadie Dulack, Sage Physic, Olivia Bergeron, Erika Thibault, Andrea Bonin, Tia Cortez, Nadine Jones, Lily Fundis, Erin Morris, Tierra Safe, Cassie Regner, Abby Madden, Torey Reny, Taylor Pratt, Adreena Adams, Kara Barnies, Kirsty Beauchesne, Sierra Melanson and Alyssa Rousseau.

The runner-up Marshwood team is: Anna Byrne, Gabrielle Gosselin, Heather Hanson, Emily Peele, Janay Wright, Carli Fontaine, Ashley Hickey, Naomi Lewis, Emily Osborne, Junyoung Shin, Miranda Smith, Becky Thompson, Cassu MacPherson, Amanda Rovnak, Abby Sargent, Ryley Sullivan, Victoria Biddle, Erin Byrne, Brittany King, Ashley Paul, Jayna Ledger and Emily Bacon; coach: Erica Stevens.

In Class B, Caribou finished fourth at 130.2, followed by John Bapst of Bangor 128.3, Wells 122.5, Presque Isle 119.1, Gardiner 116.4, Poland 110.9, Leavitt of Turner Center 107.1, Morse of Bath 106.3 and Old Town 99.8.

The Hermon team consists of: Katie Reynosa, Catherine McElvain, Destinee Knight, Kaitlinn Turner, Alivia Brown, Taylor Smith, Sarah Perley, Tiffany Tanner, Katrina Smith, Olivia Guiggey, Danielle Dennison, Erica Turmel, Marissa Cox, Riley Wood, Baylie Dalton, Kayla Ouellette and Alexis Hake.

The Medomak Valley team is: Stephanie Hill, Cassie Devver, Megan Linscott, Amanda Poland, Katie Goldrup, Gabby Ruano, Shania Melvin, Paige Russell, Olivia Ryan, Ashlee Wilson, Molly Clevette, Alyssa Ducharme, Lyndsey Miller, Charlene Wilbur, Kelsie Grady and Jessica Prescott; coach: Rachel Coor.

Classes C and D
Dexter High School cheerleader and senior tri-captain Harley Ponte said a state championship wasn’t something she had on her mind entering the season.
“I never felt we would do it. We’re a tiny team. But at least we’d love each other and we’d try our hardest.  Hopefully, we would accomplish something  to be proud of ourselves,” admitted Ponte.
But that camaraderie and work ethic enabled the Tigers to hoist their first-ever state championship as they compiled 129.3 points to outdistance Sumner High of East Sullivan in the Class C event Monday night at the Bangor Auditorium.
A large crowd braved the snowy conditions as all four classes crowned state champs after Saturday’s meets were postponed.
Sumner finished with 122.9 points and Lisbon was third with 120.
The Class D title was captured by the Deer Isle-Stonington Mariners, who edged Central Aroostook of Mars Hill by 2.4 points ( 117.4-115). Bangor Christian was third with 102.6 points. It was the Mariners’ first state crown in 28 years.
In Class C, Houlton was fourth with 116.9 points and rounding out the top five was Orono with 112.9.  Bucksport was sixth (109.6), followed by Monmouth (109.5), Central of Corinth (106.6), Madison (103.9), St. Dominic of Auburn (101.1) and Dirigo of Dixfield (89.9).
Traip Academy of Kittery elected not to participate due to the snowy conditions, according to Maine Principals’ Association Executive Director Dick Durost.
Machias was fourth in Class D with 101.7 points, followed by Penobscot Valley of Howland (98.3), Washburn (98.2), Jonesport-Beals (94.5) and Buckfield (94.3).
Dexter cheerleader and senior tri-captain David McKusick said his team’s performance Monday night wasn’t its  best.
“We had a couple of mistakes,” said McKusick. “But I think our energy really showed to the judges. They looked past our mistakes and saw the fun performance we put on.”
McKusick felt his team had a legitimate shot to win the title.
“We knew it was a big competition but we knew we were one of the best teams,” McKusick said.
“It definitely wasn’t our best,” said Dexter tri-captain Aaliyah Williams. “But we hit all of our stunts without any major flaws. That’s what we were worried about.”
“It feels amazing to be a state champion,” said Ponte, who was sporting a tender ankle. Third-year coach Kacie Ladd said,  “I can’t believe it.
“They performed well. I noticed some little things but there weren’t any huge mistakes,” said Ladd. “They hit everything. I was so proud of them. They had a lot of energy. They knew  they were going to have to bring a good show and sell it and that’s what they did.”
Ladd said she knew the scores were going to be close.
“Sumner is so strong. And they had a clean performance. It could have been anyone’s,” said Ladd.
Sumner coach Courtney Briggs was pleased with her team’s performance.
“They did really well. This is the best the team has performed in front of a large crowd this season,” said Briggs.
Joining McKusick, Williams and Ponte on the Dexter team were Ansalewit Laughton, Mackenzie McKusick, Danielle Whitten, Shayna Fogg, Madison Provost, Sarah Vigue, Alex Wulf, Stacey Allen, Laurel Desmarais, Airiell KNowlton, Katelyn Morgan, Phoebe Phillips, Emmitt Ross and Autumn Young.
Sumner’s  cheerleaders were Lexi Tracey, Whitney Ranco, Sarah Young, Cynthia Stewart, Olivia Driver, Cassidy Andrews, Katrina Hayward, Hannah Fleming, Annie O’Hara, Emily Martin, Aiyla Petty and Emma Fitzgerald.
Deer-Isle Stonington coach Kimberley Larsen guided Deer Isle-Stonington to its first state title in the first year of varsity competition.
“We been runners-up a number of times (since then),” she said. “These are true athletes. We have a lot of seniors and they wanted it so bad.”
She said her team’s technical performance wasn’t its best “but it was very, very spirited.  We have performed our routine better but it was more spirited than ever.”
“It’s good to go out our senior year with a state championship,” said Mariner cheerleader Amber Jones. “We’ve done better but it was good enough.”
“We messed up a few things but we didn’t let it bring us down. We fought through it,” said Mariner cheerleader Sarah Burgess.
Central Aroostook sophomore cheerleader Courtney Milliard said her team turned in an “awesome” performance.
“We did the best we could do,” said Miller.
The Deer Isle-Stonington cheerleaders, in addition to co-captains Jones and Burgess, was comprised of Tessa Bray, Marissa Donovan, Sarah Wilson, Paige Rollins, Alicia Allen, Belle Merritt, Sarah Eaton, Stephanie Siebert, Danielle Poiwers and Kennady Eaton. They had seven seniors.