TP_020719

42 | February 7, 2019 | The tinley junction sports
tinleyjunction.com
STATE CHEERLEADING
East wins another title, TP and Andrew miss top 10
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
For the fourth time in six
years, Lincoln-Way East
won the Illinois High School
Association large-school
state championship in competitive
cheerleading.
The Griffins won the state
championship Saturday, Feb.
2, at the Grossinger Motors
Arena in Bloomington with
a 91.56, beating out Marist,
which had a 90.57, and Stevenson,
which had a 90.42.
This was the lowest score
to win the title in the 14-year
history of the meet. But the
Griffins also own the best
score to win the title with a
97.06 in 2014.
Members of the Griffins
are Emma O’Hagan, Julia
Zelenika, Karley Kalchbrenner,
Alyssa Goodman,
Rylie Bolsoni, Lexy Salvaggio,
Grace Karana, Kait Ortiz,
Emma Barnard, Tiffani
Gergely, Jackie Brown, Fiona
Dees, Hannah Williams,
Leah Ortiz, Payton Wallace,
Miranda Chancellor,
Ava Wise, Claire Hawkinson,
Sarrah Toussant, Ava
Martello, Angelina Gallina,
Riley Feehery, Sarah Campbelll
and Maddie Brokop.
Competitive cheerleading
has been so successful at the
two Tinley Park school that
it’s almost taken for granted
that at least one of them will
finish in the top 10 in the
state.
But for just the third time
in 14 years neither Andrew
nor Tinley Park High School
could qualify for the second
day.
The Titans had a streak of
five straight years with a top-
10 finish vanquished.
They finished 12th out of
25 teams in the mediumteam
division and were two
slots away from a top-10 finish.
The Titans were given a
79.49 score by the judges.
Tinley Park cheerleaders perform at the state meet in Bloomington, en route to a 12thplace
finish.
Grayslake North, which had
a girl fall during its routine,
grabbed the final qualifying
slot with an 81.91.
Co-coaches Brittney Ghezzi
and Ashley Meyers said
there is always pressure on
TP teams to continue to excel
and this team braved
though adversity.
“We had challenges and
struggles and continued to
push and had never given
up,” Ghezzi said. “And we
kept getting better.”
“We had injuries, some
mental blocks, sickness –
but they all came together at
the end to get here,” Meyers
said.
Tinley Park team members
are Ruth Greene, Ally
Palermo, Anna Bedell, Lilly
Joy, Lindsey Dunning, Hailey
Horan, Joi McCollum,
Gabi Guerra, Alyssa Estes,
Brooke LaBudda, Emily
Sereda, Hannah Davis, Janet
Lopez, Camryn Lampasona,
Anna Sebastian, Tara Trull
and Carla Sudduth.
Grayslake Central won
Andrew’s cheerleaders provide a high-flying routine at the
state meet.
the medium title with a
90.09. The South Suburban
Conference’s Oak Forest
took second with an 89.39
and Lemont took fifth with
an 87.61. With Sandburg
failing to crack the top 10
in the large-team division,
Lemont is the only team in
the state to finish in the top
10 in all 14 state tournaments.
Andrew, which last finished
in the top 10 in 2011,
finished 19th with an 80.19.
Andrew team members
are Holly Barrett, Diamond
Branch, Lindsay Burns,
Kelsey Canavan, Jenna De-
Cicco, Cassie Dedo, Anina
Falco, Jenny Golden, Abby
Greaney, Delaney Huber,
Emily Jones, Emma Kashanitz,
Kayla Krull, Amaya
Lacey, Kayla Michau, Katie
Lapore, Rachel Lind, Laney
Mulcahy, Kasey Noe, Gianna
Palumbo, Bell Sage,
Kristina Smolinskas and
Hannah Zajac.
Lincoln-Way East’s Jackie Brown soars during the IHSA
state competitive cheerleading preliminaries on Friday,
Feb. 1. Brown and the Griffins won the large-school state
championship. PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
Tinley Park fans get ready to watch the Titans in the
medium-team division.