Lemont cheerleaders finish as runners-up at State Finals

Lemont High School’s cheerleading squad put forth its best performance of the season at the right time but just missed coming home with the program’s fourth state title.

The Indians finished as the Medium Division runner-up at the 2013 IHSA Cheerleading State Finals, which were contested at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington over the weekend. Lemont has placed among the top three teams in the state each of the last eight seasons.

Columbia, winner of the last three IHSA Small Division Cheerleading State Championships before moving up in class this season, posted a final-round score of 90.92 to edge Lemont (90.80) for the title. Oak Forest (89.64), Wauconda (89.52) and Antioch (87.08) rounded out the top five teams. Columbia’s margin of victory was the second-closest ever in the IHSA Cheerleading State Series. In 2011, Lemont won its third straight state title after edging Antioch by just .08 points.

Head coach Dave Erlenbaugh’s squad was the class of the field on the
first day of state finals competition posting the top score of all 25 teams in their division to earn a spot in the final round. Lemont’s preliminary-round score of 89.66 was more than 1.5 points better than second-place Antioch (87.24). Eventual state champion Columbia (85.68) was tied for seventh place after the first round.

Lemont’s 2012-13 cheerleading squad includes seniors Brittany Cantarino, Molly Finnelly, Stefanie Guerrero and  Katelyn Howe; juniors Maddy Detres, Emily Durham, Gianna Letizia, Rebecca Peraino, Lainey Saucedo, Kelsey Tate, Gianna Turek and DJ Wohead; sophomores Alyssa Bakovich, Elly Lambert, Stephanie Markley, Brianna Olkiewicz, Sam Palumbo and Sammy Walus; and freshmen Nicole Clausius and Katelyn Papierski.

Lemont has placed among the state’s top three in each of the eight
years of the IHSA’s cheerleading state series. After finishing third in the 2006 IHSA State Finals, Lemont was the state runner-up in both 2007 and 2008 before winning consecutive state titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The squad finished third in 2012 and posted its third runner-up finish in 2013. Lemont’s cheerleading squad is the only athletic program in school history to win an IHSA team state title.

Lemont qualified for the 2013 IHSA State Finals by finishing third in its division at the IHSA Riverside-Brookfield Sectional on January 26.

Cheerleading is the fourth Lemont High School athletic program to compete at the state level this year. Senior Aaron Oldanie competed in the IHSA Class 2A Boys’ Cross Country State Finals; sophomore Victoria Salazar and freshman Claire Gagen each took part in the IHSA Class 2A Girls’ Cross Country State Finals; and junior Bridget Lynn competed at the IHSA Class AA Girls’ Golf State Finals.

Editor’s note: The above information was provided by Lemont High School.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

There are plenty of ways to keep up on Lemont news:

• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news email alerts.

• Like us on Facebook for a slightly different take.