PIAA-bound Baldwin spirit team keeps improving

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 19, 2018 | 11:00 PM

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Baldwin's competitive cheerleading squad has evolved into an annual PIAA qualifier.

The Highlanders qualified this year thanks to a terrific team effort at the recent WPIAL competitive spirit championships at Hempfield.

Baldwin finished second to Bethel Park among Class AAA squads and won first place in the medium varsity division.

“I was extremely proud of the performance our team gave at the WPIAL competition,” said Dena Mihalsky, a co-coach at Baldwin along with Taryn Madden. “Our goal was to hit a solid routine, however, we had one minor fall. Once the team realized an error had been made, the girls worked together and finished off the rest of their routine perfectly.”

Baldwin's competitive team season begins in July with open practices, followed by choreography planning sessions in August. Competitions start in October, and the season ends after nationals in February.

The PIAA championships were to take place Jan. 19-20 in Hershey.

Baldwin qualified for the state finals in each of the past four years and has displayed annual improvement at the WPIAL competition.

The Highlanders placed 16th in 2015 and 11th in 2016, then jumped to third in 2017 and second in 2018. They also finished first in the large varsity and medium varsity divisions the past two years.

“We have come a long way with hard work and dedication,” Madden said. ”I think graduating only a few girls from our mat team last year really helped in terms of experience for the current seniors, juniors and sophomores to be able to repeat such a great WPIAL performance.

“We work so hard in practice, and although the results were amazing, our team goal is to do our personal best no matter what the result.”

Seniors Kaitlyn Joyce, Sarah Dempsey and Leila Crawford serve as co-captains of Baldwin's competitive squad. Emma Hampsay is a varsity team captain.

“Personally, for our team, I think the performance we had at WPIALs was (our) best all season,” Joyce said. “There was so much energy, and we hit everything with confidence, and that definitely felt great for us as a team to get off the mat and know how well we did.”

Dempsey said the WPIAL competition was a confidence boost for the team, which practices twice per week in three-hour sessions.

“(It) was a big improvement for us,” she said. “We added difficulty to the routine prior (to the competition), and to be able to hit the routine gave us so much confidence. We are so excited to compete in Hershey; we have pushed ourselves hard these past few months.”

The bulk of Baldwin's 2017-18 squad is sophomores: Kathy Nguyen, Grace Vavro, Olivia Lucas, Olivia Kniola, Olivia Rossa, Sophia Cavatio, Paige Young, Erin Fader, Alaina Wodarek and twins Abby Zuder and Emma Zuder.

Juniors Erin Winkowski, Carly Utzig and Hannah Barker and freshmen Sydney Smarsh, Taylor Mincin, Christianna Martinez and Grace Hampton round out the team.

Winkowski, Young, Wodarek and the Zuder twins also are members of the Baldwin gymnastics program.

Following the PIAA championships, the Baldwin girls will compete Feb. 10-11 at the National High School Cheerleading Championship at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. It will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2.

A team must attend a UCA qualifying competition and receive a high enough score to be invited to attend the national event. Baldwin received its bid to nationals at a UCA regional competition held in Centerville, Ohio.

Baldwin placed 12th in the large varsity division at last year's UCA national competition.

“That was the first time any of our teams made it to the final round,” Madden said, “and placing 12th felt like first in our book.”

Along with Bethel Park and Baldwin, this year's PIAA qualifiers (in various divisions) were Butler, North Allegheny, Penn Trafford, Hampton, Shaler, Franklin Regional, Pine-Richland, Norwin, Elizabeth Forward, Hempfield, Derry, South Park, South Fayette and Thomas Jefferson.

Elizabeth Forward repeated as champion in at the WPIAL Class AA competition, with Derry finishing second.

Chartiers-Houston and Bishop Canevin finished one-two in Class A but did not qualify for PIAAs.

Routines at the WPIAL finals included a cheer, stunts, tumbling, pyramids and dancing within a time limit.

Cheerleading teams must have at least five members, and can have as many as 30 members, to participate in the competitive spirit championships.

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

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