The College of Staten Island Cheerleading squad made lots of noise at the annual CUNYAC Championship last night at Lehman College, sweeping the tumbling, stunting, and jumping routines at the jam-packed event. When it came time for team competition, it was Brooklyn College taking top honors, walking away with the title for the second straight year, while the Dolphins came in at a respectable second place.
The scoring was incredibly tight for almost all of the competition on the evening. The Bulldogs won with 264.5 points which beat CSI at 227 points, John Jay with 207, York compiling 189.5, Kingsborough racking up 149.5, and BMCC rounding out the field 141.CSI’s performance was very solid, with the Dolphins landing a very high percentage of their routine which clocked in at two minutes. The heavy dance number was executed well, scoring the Dolphins a wealth of points. Ultimately, Brooklyn capped the competitive performances with an impressive and flawless performance consisting of flips and jumps. Overall, the difficulty level was high for most of the routine and the Bulldogs were able to smoothly stick each landing.
After the performances for top title honors, there was competition for jumping, stunting, and tumbling, and this is where the Dolphins really shined with tremendous individual performances. The Dolphins took home the top prize in the Stunt Team competition with 263 points. They barely edged out Brooklyn with 259.5 points followed by York at 163 points.
CSI’s Giana Abruzzese, an Inside Cheerleading All-American took home the Tumble competition gold with 48.5 points. She was able to outshine John Jay’s Sarah Siegel with 48 points and the Bulldogs’ Cristina Careri at 46.5 points.
In the jumping competition, CSI’s captain Ashley Isaacs finished on top with 49 points. Stephanie Marquez from Brooklyn took home the silver at 47 points. Her teammate Christine Alexis racked up 46.5 points for the third place finish.
Overall, it translated into a clean sweep for CSI in individual competition, capping off a heavily-impressive night for the very young Dolphins squad.
The cheerleading competition is consistently the most interactive championship with fans getting up with giveaways, trivia, extra competitions, and more. Last night capped another successful evening where the spirit of competition shined.
