Fox Lane Cheerleading Coach Reflects On Championship Season

From day one, Coach Dawn Lynch thought that her Fox Lane cheerleading team could win the Section 1 championship. It was just a matter of getting her team to believe it.

"We had a huge talk, and I said 'You can do this. I don't understand why you don't see that,'" Lynch said.

Finally, the team started to believe in themselves. Out of the 28 teams who competed last month at John Jay-East Fishkill, Fox Lane was named overall grand champion for the first time in the program's history.

"A light bulb went off and they got it," Lynch said. "I knew in the fall they could do whatever they wanted to in competition season. It was just a matter of them realizing they could do it."

Though the team has been successful for the past few years, Lynch credits this year's seniors — Kim Gigante and Amanda Muccioli and captains Melissa Barrionuevo, Lizzie Fleitas, Danielle Salera and Maria Servedio — for providing the leadership that pushed the team over the top.

"The four captains were just excellent leaders," Lynch said. "The entire team looked up to them. They know how to micromanage and they were wonderful leaders for the team."

Lynch, who has coached in New Jersey and Virginia before taking over Fox Lane this season, said that this group was also the most talented she's ever coached.

"It's not flashy, it's just that they're really controlled and really put together," Lynch said. "And they're hard workers. We practice Monday-Saturday so they're exhausted by the end of the week, plus cheering for basketball games in between, and most of them go to gymnastics once a week."

Fox Lane lets the girls enjoy football season working on skills and team building instead of competing in the fall. The Foxes started slowly in the winter, finishing fifth in the small-varsity division at the Scarsdale Competition on Jan. 16. It moved up to second in the small-varsity division at the Putnam Valley Tiger Tournament on Feb. 6, and then was named overall grand champions in the WPDRCCA Winter Cheerleading Conference tournament March 1 at Harrison before winning sectionals.

"They were besides themselves proud that they hit that level," Lynch said.

Lynch actually missed the competition because she was about to give birth to her now three-week old son, Robert Edward. But there's a good chance she'll see her team repeat as champions in person next year — 10 of the 16 girls return, including freshman Bianca Palucci, who does a phenomenal round-off back tuck.

"The team next year will have to put in just as much hard work, but I see great things for next year," Lynch said. "We have a lot of juniors that were very talented as far as stunting and gymnastics."