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Staples Cheer takes home 2nd in states and rocks steady all the way to regionals

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When the lights fade from a Friday night football game and after the fans leave the gym after a Tuesday night boys basketball game, there are some who continue to cheer. The cheerleading team, after bringing pep and cheer to the sidelines, for both the football team in the fall and boys’ basketball in the winter, have a season of their own.

And this season they have succeeded better than ever before.

At the CIAC State Competition on Sat. March 8, the team took home second place, behind Stamford and ahead of Fitch High School from Groton, beating out 18 other teams in the coed division. They are now advancing to the regional competition which will take place March 22.

“States is, most of the time, the last hurrah for us, so we prepare ourselves to leave it all on the mat, let everyone know that we have put so much hard work into the season,” co-captain Emma Mikesh ’14 said.

These preparations include scheduled practices three days a week and additional time that the team decides to put in to perfect their routine.

“Most people don’t realize but we actually start working on our competition routine way back in October,” co-captain Annie Raifaisen ’14 said.  “And we don’t stop until our last competition in March.”

However, the hard work paid off with the second place win and the team is not done just yet.

“Regionals will only have the top three teams from each division from each state competing so the teams we compete against will be teams we’ve never seen,” team member Alexa Davis ’15 said.

They will continue to practice in preparation and perfect the two-and-a-half minute routine by nailing all of the stunts and formation changes.

“When people say it looks easy, I tell them try holding your breathe and running around in circles,” Mikesh added.  “And you will get the right representation of how it feels to run a routine ‘full out,’ which we do at least once at each practice.”

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Caroline Cohen, Managing Editor
Caroline Cohen ’15 is a team player. And in true MVP fashion, she has made a name for herself on Inklings with her pep and strong work ethic. Since taking Intro to Journalism freshman year, she has put in countless hours of hard work and, this year, even snatched up the coveted position of Blue Staff managing editor. Cohen’s dedication stems from her passion. She loves writing, especially thoughtful opinion pieces and interesting feature stories. And the more daunting the challenge, the more willing she is to tackle it. The story she is most proud of is an investigative piece about snow day policies, for which she interviewed Superintendent Elliott Landon. Cohen’s favorite part of Inklings is, naturally, the team spirit. “I never really played sports, so Inklings is my team,” said Cohen. “It’s a way to be more involved in our school and form close bonds with lots of people.” Cohen’s love of teamwork is especially evident when she talks about her goals for her final year of Inklings. Number one on the list is writing a “twofer,” or working with another writer on a story with a challenging topic. And like any other great sportswoman, Cohen is always looking out for the other members of her team. Her “claim to fame,” as she puts it, was coming up with the idea to have editors chip in for a refrigerator for the Inklings room to store snacks in after school. Cohen especially loves the support and positive feedback from her Inklings-reading fans. “I had a copy of the graduation issue at my house, and my friends saw it and were amazed,” she said. It’s sure to be another great season for Caroline Cohen.

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