Courtesy Photo |
Monday, November 12, 2012
RICHMOND -- Northwest Region runner-up and nine-time Western Valley District champion Franklin County finished 12th in Saturday's Group AAA state cheerleading championships at Virginia Commonwealth University's Siegel Center/Verizon Wireless Arena.
The Eagles, making their second appearance in the state competition and their third in school history, scored 222 points in the 16-team event and failed to qualify for the championship round.
FCHS, coached by Marsha Lopez and Dana Kelley, bettered its showing last year by one finishing position (the Eagles were 13th a year ago), but did not match its best finish -- eighth in 2008, the first year FCHS qualified for the competition.
Herndon won the Group AAA title by besting Northern Region rival Fairfax by 4.5 points, 280.5-276.
Placing third was Grassfield (269), followed by Cosby (261.5), who won back-to-back state championships in 2010 and 2011, and Northwest Region champion Stafford (257.5).
Herndon's championship is its first -- its best finish prior to this year was its runner-up showing in 2010.
Fairfax also placed second year and is a four-time Group AAA state runner-up (2000,2008, 2011 and 2012).
Each of the finalists bettered its first-round score except for Stafford. Herndon posted the top first-round score of 270 points, followed by Fairfax (269.5), Stafford (263), Grassfield (255.5) and Cosby (253.5)
Placing sixth through 10th were Stone Bridge (247.5), Hickory (239), Glen Allen (238), Chantilly (232.5) and Osbourn Park (229) of the Northwest Region.
Finishing 11th through 16th were Frank W. Cox (227.5), FCHS, Atlee (221), Deep Run (217.5), Broad Run (214.5) of the Northwest Region and Bethel (209.5).
The top eight teams receive points in the year-long Wells Fargo Cup competition.
Ten of the 16 teams that competed for last year's state title were in this year's field.
Members of FCHS's squad are Chealcie Adams, Sierra Booth, Miranda Bousman, Courtney Brown, Rachel Caldwell, Alyssa Dodson, Lynsey Dunbar, Courtney Grantham, Tonia Greenway, Kelci Hall, T. Hess, Maddie Holland, Haley Hunt, Alexis Jones, Callie King, Katie Lynch, Tessa Mason, Summer Norton, Chelsea Sink, Katelin Spicer, Jessie Thurman, Catherine Tuner, Samantha Turner, Morgan Ware, Addy Whittington and Kayla Wood. |
