Let's Cheer for the Portsmouth High School Cheerleaders!

It has been a banner year for the Portsmouth High School Cheerleaders — a squad that played on each other's strengths and weaknesses and worked like a team "the likes of which I have not seen in a long time," said coach Debora Valente.

On March 15, the team came to the floor in sparkling new uniforms and captured the Large Division title with a score of 92.5. That score was the highest of the day, which handed them the Overall Grand Championship for the state of Rhode Island, too, beating out the favored squads of North Providence, Tolman and LaSalle Academy.

And it came after a year of ups and downs, like many teams face. They had injuries and illness early on. They switched up their style with new choreography. 

"We wanted to do something different," Valente said. "It was a work in progress right from the start."

It was a big challenge and they took it week to week, meet to meet, looking at their scores at the end of the week and "discussed and addressed our skills to meet the maximum skills on the rubric."

They removed skills that worked against them, added ones that did, the "kids took ownership of the routine" and by the last performance of the season, they were starting to peak. It was their best performance, "and there was no stopping us from that point," Valente said.

They didn't stop winning from then on. And they kept cheering at football games and a few basketball games. It was a grueling schedule for the Lady Patriots and they would have liked to be at more games.

The coach said they picked up some slack because they weren't at some basketball games but both teams' schedules intersect. 

When they took home the prizes at the March 15 event, it was a career moment for the coach as well as the highlight of the season for all the girls.

"It was a great year for me as a coach but not for the reason you might be thinking," Valente said. "Winning is a great feeling but watching the growth and determination of these kids all year was the reward for me."

A cheerleading coach since 1992 at the youth and high school level, "they are surely the most talented and driven team I have ever had the privilege to coach."

Valente praised the leadership of her nine seniors: Capts. Amber McCollum, Brianna Dublin, Kaitlan Mitchell along with seniors Erynne McGeown, Hannah Fleming, Kaitlyn Arruda, Eden Younkin, Sabrina Aguiar and Gabby Murphy — "magic together," she said.

They worked hard "to mentor the younger kids both in the classroom and on the comp floor," the coach said.

The rest of the team — Mikaela Pedersen, Jillian LaBonte, Ashley Underhill, all juniors; Janelle Dublin, Lauren Aleicho, Macy Walz, Kayla Santos, and Veronica Kelley, all Sophomores; and  two freshmen, Jenna Carruba and Kristie Lee, "were amazing this year for us."

In addition to their work as athletes, the team raised more than $2,000 for cancer with a walk-a-thon and hosted a Christmas Dinner fundraiser that provided toys and a meal for a few Navy families.

"They are truly hard workers," Valente said.

The season isn't over quite yet. On Saturday, the team will be competing at the New England Regional Competition at Lawrence High School. And last night, on Thursday, 11 members of the squad competed for individual All-State honors. Erynne McGeowon, Brianna Dublin and Kristie Lee were named second team All-State and Amber McCollum finished in the top 20 and was also named to the 2014 RIIL All State Team.