Monroe, E.B.-Spotswood teams national champs

Two area Pop Warner cheerleading teams took home national championship titles in their divisions while competing in Walt Disney World earlier this month.

Left, members of the Monroe Wolverines Junior PeeWees perform their winning routine. Above, the East Brunswick-Spotswood Golden Bear Chargers PeeWees took first place in their division in the national championship competition. The East Brunswick-Spotswood Golden Bear Chargers (GBC) PeeWee team won in the Advanced Small category and the Monroe Wolverines Junior PeeWee took first in the Large Intermediate division at the National Pop Warner Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Fla.

For the GBC team, the road to victory may have seemed unlikely for a time. The squad had been plagued with injuries since the beginning of the season.

In its first competition, cheerleader Elizabeth Nielsen broke a finger during a warm-up run right before the event.

"My assistant and I saw and heard the break; it was a sound you will never forget," said cheer coordinator Laura Bacskoczky. "Elizabeth proceeded to go onto the floor and perform her entire routine, tumbling and all. We found out the next day that indeed she broke her finger. I asked her, 'How did you pull off the routine,' and she proceeded to tell me she palmed all of her tumbling passes. She is a very strong and talented tumbler."

Over the next few weeks, the squad had to overcome similar challenges, with sprained wrists and fingers. Bacskoczky noted that at one point the head coach jokingly advised the girls that she was going to wrap all the girls with Bubble Wrap and write their notes to their teachers saying they were not going to be in school until competition was over. The team, she said, "worked extremely hard" for its national victory in this advanced division. "There are not many PeeWee advanced teams that come out of Pop Warner because of the age of the girls and the difficulty that is involved in this division. But this team proved themselves and proved to the nation that they are No. 1 by becoming national champs," Bacskoczky said.

The team's head coach was Lorraine Nielsen, and assistant coaches were Diane Benesz and Colleen Leroy. Student demonstrators were Kristina Senkel and Gloryanne Lindenmuth.

Members of the team were Victoria Yuhasz, Angela Long, Brittney Benesz, Juliana Evans, Caitlyn Leroy, Jacqueline Giancola, Zariya Jackson, Kelsi Conahan, Elizabeth Nielsen, Shay Decker, Cassandra Kosty, Melissa Senkel, Alyssa Lillian, Emily Baile, Shelby Wittkop, Jessica Meagher and Emma King.

The GBC actually sent two teams to Nationals this year, for the first time. Its Midget squad, undefeated before going to Walt Disney World, placed sixth in the nation. It previously attended Nationals in 2006 as a novice team, but moved up to the intermediate level this year, beating 21 teams to make it to Nationals.

The Monroe Wolverines had three teams compete in Walt Disney World, all finishing in first or second place in their divisions. The PeeWee Large Advanced team and Junior PeeWee large novice team both finished second in their divisions, while the Junior Pee- Wee Large Intermediate team finished first on Dec. 8 to become national champions.

The championship team consisted of 33 girls ages 9-11 from the Brookside and Woodland elementary schools. Most of the girls on this year's team just missed going to Florida in 2007. This year, behind their theme "Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust," the group finished first in every competition, including Central Jersey, States and Eastern Regions. The Monroe Junior PeeWees arrived in Florida on Dec. 6 and got to spend the first day in the parks with their families, but then it was "team time." Following a day of practice, the girls arrived at "the Milk House" early so they could watch the Monroe Junior PeeWee Novice team, which finished first runner-up to the Brick Dragons, also from New Jersey. That afternoon, the girls hit the mat and performed their routine. About two hours later, the announcer called their name and they were the 2008 national champions. Their head coach, Kathleen Watlington, has been to Florida before and now has three undefeated national championship titles as a coach for Monroe.

In addition to being head coach for this team, she was also an assistant coach at the 2005 national champion Monroe Junior Pee- Wee Novice team, and was head coach in 2006 for the Princeton-Monroe Junior PeeWee Large Novice team.

She and her assistant and junior coaches, along with cheer coordinators Mary and Kelly Lange, and the parents, put in countless hours and dedication to making the cheer programinMonroe one of the best in the nation. The girls, parents and coaches fundraised during November to help defray some of the expenses of sending a team to Nationals. The girls held cans outside many local businesses collecting donations, while the parents stood in the cold along busy intersections in town asking passing drivers for spare change. In addition, donations were solicited for sponsor T-shirts.

The team consisted of Alyssa Schnorrbusch, Angela Campanaro, Ariel Ross, Ashley Terranova, Autumn Yearwood, Caitlyn Mc- Cinley, Danielle Mizrahi, Emily Kutz, Erica Quigley, Holly Morgans, Jasmine Bose, Jenna Cutrone, Jenna Marshall, Jessica Albrecht, Jessica Antonacci, Jessica Gaffrey, Kara Dalton, Kayla Albrethsen, Kristin Celendano, Kylie Watlington, Lauren Garuccio, Lauren Moss, Linda Marcano, Mackenzie Conroy, Madison Lipoff, Megan Sgroi, Niara Bell, Nicole Cardinali, Shea Crothers, Sunny Worden, Taylor Egeird, Tori Infuso and Victoria Giannola. Coaches were Alanna O'Handley, Jess Baum, Kathleen Watlington, Kelli Antonacci, Liz Lipoff, Nikki Wager and Sharon Yearwood.