Printer Friendly Version - State Champs!

The athletes on the Indians' cheerleading squad stand triumphant after winning the Class L state championship at New Haven Athletic Center last week. From left to right are (front row) Kristina McKinney, Alyssa Cassamento, Courtney Flynn, Assistant Coach Melissa Thomas, Melanie Riccio, captain Elizabeth Villano, captain Kayla Crisafi, Head Coach Kathleen Crisafi, captain Tara Jermine, Assistant Coach Kristen Forte, and Assistant Coach Nicole Russo; along with (back row) Kristen Spencer, Sarah Kennedy, Gina Mergner, Monica Keyes, Felishia LaPointe, Kayla Piscitelli, Adrianna Barbiero, Brittany Cebula, Brianna Thompson, Carissa Riccio, Dominique Charity, Elisha Allen, Julia Marnett, Kayla Criscuolo, Leana Maldanado, and Taylor Vaccarro. Missing from the photo are Christina Angelicola and Katie Carmen.

What does a cheerleading team do for an encore performance after winning the Southern Connecticut Conference championship? Well, if you're the North Haven Indians, you go to New Haven Athletic Center and score the most points out of a 19-team field to win the Class L championship.

That's exactly what Kathleen Crisafi's team did on March 12 as her Indians, who had already won three competitions on the season, including their-first ever victory at the SCC meet last month, tallied 158.5 points to edge runner-up Masuk's total of 155.5 and earn the honor of being the first state champion cheerleading squad in North Haven history.

The Indians' routine followed a similar structure to their victorious showing at SCCs and Crisafi said her athletes "hit absolutely everything" in their two-and-a-half minute performance. North Haven's flawless execution gave Crisafi reason to think her team had a shot at the title, but of course, there were several other solid showings at the meet, and so it wasn't until her team was announced as the champion that the coach's 25-year dream became a reality.

"We've always been that team who's been knocking at the door as we've finished fourth or fifth in the past and so after they announced the second and third-place teams, I was thinking that maybe we finished there again," Crisafi said. "But then when they said that we were the winners, it truly was chaos as our girls were screaming and yelling, hugging and crying, and were just in awe of the whole situation. This is what every team works for from the start of June through the end of the season."

However, North Haven's season is not yet finished for as a result of placing in the top three at states, the Indians will compete at the New England Championship in Providence, Rhode Island this weekend. The athletes who will make that trek after having guided the Indians to conference and state titles, are captains Tara Jermine, Elizabeth Villano, and Kayla Crisafi; along with Carissa Riccio, Brittany Cebula, Courtney Flynn, Monica Keyes, Gina Mergner, Kayla Piscitelli, Brianna Thompson, Elisha Allen, Christina Angelicola, Adrianna Barbiero, Dominique Charity, Sarah Kennedy, Alyssa Cassamento, Kristina McKinney, Melanie Riccio, Kristen Spencer, Taylor Vaccaro, Felishia LaPointe, Julia Marnett, Kayla Criscuolo, and Leana Maldonado.

Jermine said that her team's four-person stunts played a key role in winning at states as most teams used three-person stunts and that one extra person gave the Indians a few extra points and that little extra edge.

"We had a lot of new girls on the team who stepped up and helped us with our tumbling and stunts this year. With three people, you can only score up a 7.5, but with four you can get a 10 and every judge gave us either an 8.5 or a 9.0 on our stunts," Jermine said. "I'm so happy for Coach Crisafi, who's been coaching for North Haven for 25 years, and deserves this success. We all want to thank her and also all our fans, friends, and parents who came out to support us and get us pumped up. We didn't just do this for ourselves; we did it for them too and it's feels great to be first North Haven cheerleading team to win a state championship."

Coach Crisafi's daughter, Kayla, was just as excited as Jermine to make Indians' sports history and said it still hasn't fully sunk in that she her teammates are among Connecticut's elite.

"We went into the meet thinking that we could place if we did our best and so we were shocked when we found out we won. I think we are all still thinking, 'Wow, did this really happen?'" she said. "It's a great feeling for all of us that all our hard work paid off and I think what put us over the top was what we went out on the mat and showed everyone that we have a lot of fun doing what we do."