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Moving on up

Xplosion All-Stars Cheer in top 3 in ‘makeover’

Submitted photos The Xplosion All-Stars Cheer is still in the running for a “Cheer Gym Extreme Makeover.”

A local cheerleading gym continues its climb into some rarified air.

The Xplosion All-Stars Cheer, located at 2485 Falconer-Frewsburg Road in Jamestown, is still in the running for a “Cheer Gym Extreme Makeover,” valued at more than $500,000.

According to Lisa Perrin, who co-owns the Xplosion All-Stars Cheer with her daughter, Samantha Robinson, a video from their gym was submitted to the Open Championship Series in March and the 10 favorite videos were selected last month. Those top-10 teams then had 10 days to get the most online votes possible in an effort to reach the top three.

The Xplosion All-Stars Cheer learned it was among that group on Wednesday in a Facebook announcement. Although the order of the finalists wasn’t announced, Perrin did note that there were a total of 84,000 confirmed online votes.

Those three gyms will now move on to the final round and, on July 14, the Cheer Gym Makeover winner will be announced.

“It was definitely a blur,” Perrin said of the last few weeks, “and it’s actually been heartwarming. We have gotten so much community support. … We’ve had people we don’t even know stop us in stores, saying, ‘We’re voting for your team.'”

Perrin said that representatives from the Open Championship Series had planned to make an in-person visit to the gyms of the three finalists, but COVID-19 has prevented that. Instead, OCS will do a Zoom call on Tuesday during which Perrin and crew will give a virtual video tour of the Xplosion’s facilities.

“It’s been really heartwarming,” Perrin said. “I don’t think many people knew about us.”

Well, they do now.

As a result, Perrin, Samantha Robinson and the 100 cheerleaders who hail from Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Warren counties wait for the reveal on July 14.

“We have our fingers crossed,” Perrin said.

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