Mount Sinai crowned state champion for record fourth time
Mt. Sinai cheerleaders react after winning first place in the Division II Small School category of the New York State cheerleading championships in Rochester, N.Y., on Saturday. Credit: Lauren Petracca
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mount Sinai’s reign of cheerleading supremacy continued on Saturday.
Entering the day tied for the New York State record with three state crowns, Mount Sinai now stands alone with four championships after winning the Division II Small School title at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Mount Sinai won with a score of 87.80. Wantagh finished second with 84.10.
West Babylon (84.75) also had a second-place finish in the Co-Ed Divison. Sachem North won the Division I Small School title (89.85).
Making its run of dominance even more impressive, Mount Sinai won its third consecutive state title in the process after the 2021 championships were canceled because of the pandemic.
"This is awesome," senior Brianna Rode said. "We had a really tough season this year with injuries and to not get to come here last year, it feels really good to win it all. It doesn’t really get much better than that."
Mount Sinai has competed in three different divisions and won in each of them en route to winning four state titles. The school previously cheered in the Co-Ed Division in 2016, as well as Division II Large School in 2019-2020.
"It’s really cool to have one in every division that we could compete in," coach Megan Wesolowski said.
Mount Sinai felt an added sense of motivation to win after waiting two years for the opportunity to three-peat.
"It definitely stunk not to have this chance last year," Delilah Mile said. "But now that we had it this year, we came back even harder and did what we had to do as a team to get back to the state championship and win it."
Wesolowski noted how her team’s ability to successfully adjust entering the finals paid huge dividends.
"Coming out of Round 1, we had a really clean hit, so we were proud of that but there were little things that we could improve upon," she said. "And they did it in Round 2 and it paid off for them. And now here we are – four time state champions."
Even with its winning culture and the pressure that inevitably accompanies it, Mount Sinai arrived in Rochester with a simple approach that was certainly effective.
"Our mindset was to just come and have fun and enjoy ourselves on the mat," Rode said. "And that’s exactly what we did."
Tori Napolitano referenced the key to the program continuing its winning ways despite losing several key members since last their last state title victory in 2020.
"We had a lot of new people," Napolitano said. "So just getting them used to how it works and helping them have the feeling that we did two years ago was great."
Despite the school’s smaller size, Mount Sinai’s reign of cheerleading supremacy can also be attributed to the community’s overall passion for the sport.
"They’re a really talented group of kids," Wesolowski said. "They have a lot of drive and the families we have in our program are amazing, too. They really push the kids and get them into tumbling and early clinics. We’re a small school but we have so many talented kids that love the sport from such a young age."
