An intense and determined Dover High team made it a real challenge, but coach Michelle McCarty’s juggernaut of a Pinkerton Academy spirit squad maintained its dominance in New Hampshire this past Sunday, March 16 in its home gymnasium no less by winning its eighth consecutive Division I Winter Spirit Championship and its 18th overall crown.
The defending state champs successful defended their 2013 title by narrowly edging the Dover Green Wave group by a 98.5-98 tally. Pinkerton seniors who have competed with the varsity spirit contingent since their freshman years have now won a state title each and every fall and winter, and Sunday’s championship win gave the Astros their eighth state crown in the last four years.
After taking the 2013 divisional title last March, the Pinkerton team went on to win a New England championship as well. And defending that impressive crown is the next piece of business on the academy team’s agenda.
The Astros’ team had qualified to move on to the Division I championships with its impressive performance at the preliminary-round competition at PA the previous weekend.
The academy crew tallied a team score of 102 at the preliminary event to outdistance Dover (97.5), Spaulding of Rochester (89), and Alvirne of Hudson (86.5) to roll into this past Sunday’s championship event with a considerable head of steam.
McCarty’s present, title-winning 2014 varsity squad includes a bunch of seasoned veterans intent upon winning another New England crown now that the Granite State business has been taken care of.
The PA contingent’s members include seniors Chelsea Bousquet (a quad-captain), Kiana Cormier (a captain), Ariana Moran (a captain), Taryn Mullane (a captain), Megan Chaganis, Stephanie Longo, Kelsey O’Connor, and Selena Pierce; juniors Elisabeth Cox, Nicole Hilliard, and Nicole Saitta; sophomores Emily Dellisola, Madison Garnick, Alexandra Kirker, Valerie Quigley, and Katiya Troutman, and freshmen Erica Barreiro, Alyssa Daigle, Kendra Hicks, Cameron LaRoche, Jillian Parnigoni, Hannah Rogers, and Camryn Teresky.
