Putting in a lot of practice time paid off for New Egypt’s Pop Warner Pee Wee cheerleaders, who are savoring the first national championship won by any cheer team from New Egypt.
They put together close to a perfect performance at a competition at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., last month.
“We just practiced, practiced, practiced,” coach Shelly Peroni said regarding the main ingredient for success.
The team will be honored at the New Egypt Pop Warner annual party on Jan. 26 at the Elks Club. The 17 girls on the team will also be honored at a town meeting sometime in March.
“They were awesome. I could not have asked for a better performance,” Peroni said. “They were incredible the entire season, and this was probably their best performance. Sometimes nerves get the best of teams, but not this group.”
Peroni was supported by assistant coaches Gina Shenesky and Jen Downey, and instructors Ashley Carroll, Nicole Clyde, Jillian Agostinacchio and Melany Langhurst.
Sharing in the spotlight was the Junior Midget Dance Team, which will also be honored by New Egypt’s Pop Warner program and the town for finishing second in the nationals under head coach Robin Williams, assistant coaches Yvette Comisky and Laura Madia, and instructors Brenna Williams and Trisha Daly. Four of the 14 girls on the team were on the Junior Midget Dance Team that won the national title last year — the fourth won by a dance team from New Egypt since 2006. The team was one of four national qualifying dance teams last year, with one finishing in second place and the other two finishing in third.
It made for a memorable year for the program under dance and cheer Commissioner Jennifer Kasoff.
“Once they get to Florida, it’s a different feeling, a different vibe,” said Kasoff, who had coached three of the national champion dance teams. “The pressure is on in the regionals to qualify for the nationals, but once they get there, the pressure is off. They know they got there, so they can’t lose. All of our [dance] teams have their best performance in the nationals.”
Peroni said she believed the whole Pee Wee Cheer routine was solid, but the addition of the “pendulum” move to the pyramid routine pushed the team’s drive to the top. It finished first in the local competition, first in the state competition that was added for the first time this year and second in the regionals. The competitions were held at Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton.
“The girls really love doing the pyramid, and this year, they did the pendulum with it. It’s an old move, but you need a large group to do it, and we did not have enough girls in the past to do it,” Peroni said. “I don’t think anybody else [in the nationals] did it. We got positive comments from the judges across the board. They thought the girls were together and loved the routine and choreography.”
In that move, the team forms a pyramid, with one girl in the middle who free falls backward, trusting in her teammates to pick her back up into a vertical position.
“It’s an old-school move that was popular 10 years ago, but I was so thrilled Shelly Peroni put it in their practice this year,” Kasoff said. “We felt that would be the winning move.”
Many of the 17 girls on the team in the 8-12 age group performed together over the last two years on the Junior Pee Wee Cheer Team. The youngest in this group was 9 years old.
The team members were Alexis Bennett, Gabrielle Biesiada, Justine DeWolf, Camryn Douglass, Alyssa Downey, Mya Evans, Kennedi Gibbs, Nazae Harris, Susan Mandeville, Charlotte Miller, Nya Mingo, Natalie Newkirk, Madison Nixon, Alexis Ortega, Jessica Peroni, Sara Shenesky and Alexia Thompson.
“The girls really worked together as a team all season. [They] worked hard and jelled together. They believed in themselves,” Shelly Peroni said. “They were always positive — a great group of girls.”
They also stayed healthy, which helped refine the coordination of their routine, although Peroni said they had their share of girls with knee braces by the time they got to the nationals.
As for the Junior Midget Dance Team that is for girls ages 10-13, all but four moved up to the next age level from last year. Like the cheer team, it also maintained a high level of performance behind the efforts of team members Faith Caruso, Morgan Collier, Madison Comisky, Hanna Downs, Samantha Glowzenski, Grace Hooker, Kailie Kincs, Audrey Lavin, Macy Madia, Hailey McHenry, Maggie Moffat, Jessica Shoblock, Mary Frances Stanley, Amanda Tenzer, Hailey Tipton, Eleni Toto and Haley Williams.
The team finished first in the local tournament and second in the regionals held in Albany, N.Y., placing behind the Monmouth Falcons from New Jersey, which also finished ahead of New Egypt in the nationals. It performed under a British Invasion theme, with music performed by artists from England and audience members waving flags of the Union Jack that were handed out.
“They were really tight, [with] no mistakes. [It was] a beautiful routine that flowed easily with a lot of energy,” Kasoff said. “Each team has to perform to jazz, cheer funk and pom-poms, but every town has its own style, and New Egypt really perfects its teamwork and performs off the crowd’s energy as well.”
It’s that signature brand of energy that has kept the dance teams near the top of the national standings and helped the cheer team to the first national title in New Egypt.