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Lutz snags 2 crowns at Cheeroffs
By STEVE LEE, Times Staff Writer LUTZ -- In the first season of the Super Cheeroffs' expanded format, host Lutz won two of four Pasco Police Athletic League division titles. Lutz captured the mighty mites (age 9-10) and flyweights (age 7-8) crowns Saturday at the Oscar Cooler Recreation Complex. The Land O'Lakes varsity squad (age 13-16) was the county's lone champion, and East Lake won at the junior varsity level (age 11-12). In previous Super Cheeroffs, two finalists battled for four divisional titles. Before this season, which began with the PPAL Jamboree in August, league directors voted unanimously to include three finalists at each level. "By doing it this way, we opened it up so more girls can compete (at the Super Cheeroffs)," PPAL cheerleading director Sandy Kelleher said. Vicci Kendall, Kelleher's predecessor who now is the league's assistant cheerleading director, said organizing a competition with awards for first, second and third places falls more in line with national cheerleading events. The 12 finalists -- all of whom came from Land O'Lakes, Lutz and East Lake -- were the top performers at the PPAL Cheeroffs, held Nov. 10 at River Ridge's Jim Valentine Athletic Complex. They were among more than 1,100 cheerleaders in PPAL's 11 communities. "I like the format a lot better," Lutz cheerleading coordinator Denise Pope said. "It just brings the competition level up." Pope listed two areas -- cheerleaders are judged in nine categories -- in which Lutz teams excelled. "We worked very hard on our stunts and our jumps," Pope said. "We just kept pushing our teams to the next level." Like PPAL's youth football teams, cheerleaders compete in four age groups. There is no competition for flag football cheerleaders (4-6), although that group cheers at regular-season games.
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