Cosby takes state title for second consecutive year

The tears started flowing long before the judges had tallied their final scores.

Defending champion Cosby completed its performance at Saturday’s Group AAA state cheerleading championships, then retired to a corner of VCU’s Verizon Wireless Arena and waited for the last finalist to take the floor.

Herndon High from northern Virginia was a serious contender, having finished second to Cosby by just two points at the 2010 state competition. The Hornets' squad featured five boys, whose upper-body strength made for sturdier bases and other maneuvers; the Titans have just one boy, the indispensible Timm Ridgway.

The looks of concern on the Titans’ faces turned to frowns as they watched Herndon’s squad put on what looked to be a championship-worthy routine.

“At states, it’s so close that you never know,” Cosby co-captain Morgan Lawman said.

Cosby senior Breanna Glass, who had been carried off the floor by two teammates after aggravating a case of tendinitis in her left ankle during the preliminary round, was sobbing because she thought she had cost her team a second consecutive state title.

But after a tense few minutes while the judges tallied their final scores, the Titans found themselves crying for a much happier reason.

Cosby made it back-to-back titles, finishing with 270 points to nip Fairfax by 2 ½ Saturday night. Herndon (266) was third, as the top three teams were separated by a mere four points.

“Cheer is peculiar because you only get three minutes to show months’ worth of hard work,” Cosby coach Catharine Walters said. “I knew we were good enough to win, but the likelihood of beating this many good teams … every team in the finals deserved it. I’m just thrilled and so proud of them.”

When the Titans gathered for their first practice back in August, Walters told her returning cheerleaders to remove the state championship rings they earned last November. It was a symbolic gesture, but also a practical one; Walters didn’t want her girls to become complacent because of past success or burdened all season by the pressure to defend their title.

“I told them, ‘This is a new team and I don’t want you to think about [being the defending state champions],” she added. “We focused more on building team unity and helping each other.”

Cosby, the only Central Region team to ever win a state championship, was the only local representative in the championship finals this year. James River, which qualified for states with a third-place finish at the regional meet, was 16th with 190.

“The only thing I’m upset about is this huge arena didn’t get to see what we can really do,” James River coach Autumn Nabors said. “I think our anxiety got the better of us. One thing didn’t get executed and then it spiraled, and we allowed it to get in our heads.”

Walters was quite certain after the Titans’ final performance that they hadn’t done enough to win, and she told the team as much as they huddled after their finals performance.

When the public-address announcer announced the final scores in reverse order and identified Fairfax as runners-up, Cosby’s cheerleaders could barely contain their excitement long enough to receive their championship trophy.

“My first thought was “Am I dreaming?” said Glass, beaming despite a walking boot on her left foot and pain she described as “105” on a scale of 1 to 10. “I didn’t know what to think.”

At Walters’ insistence, Glass had been on crutches all week leading up to states to keep weight off her injured ankle and give her a better chance of being able to perform in the final competition of her high school cheer career.

By Saturday, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that tendinitis or not, Glass was going to be out on the floor with her teammates and giving everything she had to win.

“I trusted her totally,” Walters said. “The girl is amazing. I knew she’d pull it off.”

Added Glass: “I was in a lot of pain, but I couldn’t give up on my team. I had to push through it, no matter what.”