BLOOMINGTON — Be a good person.
When Jordan Miller took over as Marist competitive cheerleading coach in the 2017-18 season, he brought that simple but effective mantra to his team.
Now the RedHawks are back-to-back large school state champions.
Once again, Marist saved its best for last and captured the state title with a 96.52 score on Feb. 8 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
Schaumburg (95.70) placed second and Neuqua Valley (94.50) was third.
It’s the seventh state trophy since 2012 for the RedHawks and the fifth in the eight seasons that Miller has coached. They took second in 2018, 2019 and 2022. But the past two seasons have been the best as they earned their first two titles in the sport.
“Each one has been a different experience,” Miller said of winning it back-to-back. “The key is that not only is everyone on the team a good athlete, but they’re a good human being.
“That has transcended over and it coincides with our success.”
Eleven seniors on the team experienced success at the top of the podium for two straight seasons: Carrington Anderson, Emma Burke, Breanna Doherty, Jaclyn Fitzmaurice, June Giblin-Segal, Madelyn Gutrich, Julia Lorenz, Mya Marciano, Gianna Marciano, Abigail Osborne and Bridget Panarese.
The juniors are Mia Duszynski, Carsen Fisher, Mary Griffin, Emilia Perez and Margot Spreitzer. There are also five sophomores: Kaelyn Howell, Jenna McAdams, Cameron Pantalena, Sarah Tadevich and Leah Treacy. The freshmen are Mackenzie Mutch, Savannah Mutch and Nora Tracy.
Two more local teams made the cut to compete on the final day of the two-day state finals. Lyons placed 10th in the co-ed Division (88.82) and Sandburg finished fifth in the large school division (91.71).
In the preliminary round, Marist had the second-highest score with 95.08. Lockport scored 96.48 in the preliminaries and was favored in the finals, but had some late stumbles and fell to sixth with a 90.16 score.
“We don’t follow what other teams are doing,” Miller said of how the RedHawks were able to do so well on the final day. “We just trust each other and love each other.”
Fitzmaurice agreed.
“We peak at the right moment,” she said. “At state, we nailed it when it mattered. We felt confident and I’ll remember that everyone knew they did their best.
“Both titles feel amazing, but I’d say this one is more special. I wanted to leave the program with no regrets.”
It’s Marist’s 16th state title, ninth in a girls sport and second this school year following a Class 4A girls volleyball championship last fall. It’s a special one for these seniors.
“All of the seniors have been in the program for four years,” Anderson said. “It’s just the love for this program and each other. I just wanted to put it all out there knowing it was the end of my high school career.”
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