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‘Truly amazing’

Warren competitive spirit takes 4th in state

Photo submitted to Times Observer Warren Area High School’s competitive spirit squad finished fourth on Saturday at the PIAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.

HERSHEY — If you were up a little bit later on Saturday evening, you may have heard the police and fire escort. Warren Area High School’s competitive spirit squad finished fourth at the PIAA Championships at the Giant Center.

After a fifth-place finish last year, Warren finished a position higher — behind only Neshannock, Hickory and Archbishop Wood — on Saturday’s finals of the 2A Large Varsity Division.

“This year’s journey for the competitive cheer season was full of ups and downs; however, they did not give up,” said Warren coach Melissa Feaster. “The girls kept persevering for one another. They kept trusting that the coaching staff was leading them in the right direction.”

The Dragons finished with scores (three-judge panel) of 78.3, 77.8 and 77.9 for a final tally of 77 after a 1-point deduction. Archbishop Wood — less than 1-point ahead of Warren for third — finished with a final score of 77.9667 after deductions. Neshannock won with a final score of 84.4667 and Hickory tallied 81.1333 for second in the state.

“This weekend was truly amazing,” said Feaster. “The girls gave one of their best ‘in sync’ performances during preliminary competition on Friday with a few errors that ended up being high on the deduction sheet. Two stunting falls cost us 5 points in deductions. With the competition being extremely tough, we were worried we wouldn’t make it through to either semifinals or finals, especially with our deductions being so high. When the announcer called the Warren Dragons on Friday, we were ecstatic. We had even placed high enough to skip semifinals, and go straight to finals. This was only the second time in school history the Dragons advanced through preliminary competition.

“Saturday’s routine was another great performance,” said Feaster. “They truly gave it their all. … This is the highest we have ever placed at states.

Warren finished in sixth place in 2021 and fifth in 2022.

“A special thanks to the seniors that led the team on the mat this year,” added Feaster. “We have seven amazingly talented seniors and, since the end of last season, all seven of them wanted more. They kept striving to improve themselves and their teammates all year. They taught the underclassmen so much and kept pushing the team’s limits. I am blessed to have an amazing group of girls and extremely sad to lose these talented seniors.

Those seniors included Lauren Andersen, Emma Carlson, Ryleigh Ecklund, Madelyn Flannery, Abigail Kent, Jayna Phillips and Molly Suppa; juniors, Ella Bouchard, Elena Brocklehurst, Loralei Massa and Lauren Shattuck; sophomores, Annette Carrington, Shaina Critzer, Hailey Graham, Maddelyn Herzog, Kendra Noe and Emily Sudul; and freshmen, Peyton Kent, Kendra Tudor and Delaney Wright. Assistant coaches are Wendy Carrington and Alyssa Strandburg.

Earlier this month, seven teams competed for four PIAA berths at the District 10 Championships. The Dragons qualified for the at-large bid (fourth place overall) out of the D10 2A Large Varsity Division.

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