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02/08/2020 11:00 PMThe athletes on the Branford cheerleading team were reminding themselves to smile as they got ready to compete at the Southern Connecticut Conference Championship. One year after finishing fourth at SCCs, the Hornets changed their focus and, in turn, changed their results.
Branford won its eighth SCC title by scoring 90.15 points to place ahead of runner-up Shelton (88.20) and everyone else in the 17-team field at North Haven High School on Feb. 1. The Hornets’ plan was simple: Control what they could.
“We were driven by our senior leadership, my four seniors. They know everything about what we build and instill in our kids. They’re the perfect representation of our team,” Head Coach Melissa Mansi said. “It dawned on our seniors that they collectively have state, regional and All-SCC awards, but they don’t have a team SCC title. That fueled a lot of their fire.”
The championship was not only the first for Branford’s seniors, it also marked the first SCC title for Mansi in her fifth year as Hornets’ head coach. Bella Miranda, Jade Smith, Lila Beard, and Taylor Nichols are the four seniors on the team. The quartet leads a group of 15 cheerleaders, many of whom are freshmen and sophomores.
The other members of the Branford cheer team are junior Lilly Longway; sophomores Mariella Espert, Fiona Cavallaro, Sami Lagrossi, Kaitlyn LeBlanc, and Svea Lundgren; and freshmen Ava Juliano, Sammie Robinson, Ella Miller, Sarah Nwagboli and Gianna Piscitelli.
Mansi said the disappointment of last year’s fourth-place finish played a big role in Branford’s preparation heading into this year’s SCC meet. Mistakes may happen during a routine, but Mansi knew that overcoming those mistakes was the key.
“A couple weeks before [the SCC Championship], I asked them, ‘Do you remember last year? Do you remember our performance?’” said Mansi, who graduated from Branford in 2009 and then immediately started the JV cheer team. “Kids either laughed or got angry, because mistakes happened.”
The Hornets adopted the mantra of focusing on what they could control. Mansi wanted her athletes to worry less about the technical side of their routine and concentrate more on securing all of the “gimme points,” that they could.
“You can’t control a stunt that goes down or a tumbling pass that doesn’t land. You can control your attitude towards mistakes, facial expressions, or transitions in the routine,” Mansi said. “There is an entire list of things in a routine where they can grab points on things they can control.”
Smith, Miranda, and Beard were all named to the All-SCC Team for Branford at the conference meet. Smith also received the Connecticut Orthopedics Urgent Care/SCC Coaches Merit Award.
“She is a class act, takes her role as a student and a student athlete very seriously,” said Mansi of Smith. “She is a high honor roll student, part of many different clubs, the National Honor Society, the World Language Honor Society, the yearbook committee. She has done a lot for the program over the last four years. She leads by example. She doesn’t need to tell the girls what to do. She does it.”
Now, the Hornets turn their attention toward the Class M State Championship that’s taking place at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Saturday, March 7. Branford has been preparing for the competitive portion of its season since its first summer practice, and Coach Mansi is pleased to see that effort paying off for the Hornets on the big stage.
“In our gym at Branford, we train for competition season starting at the first practice in July. That’s our season where we get to show off our hard work and skills,” Mansi said. “Knowing the work we put in from July to March shows we are a talented program in our state and region.”