LEWISTON — Did you hear the one about the little team in Maine that took the biggest cheering competition in the country by storm?

Competing for a national championship was no riddle for Planet Cheer Galaxy, an all-star team based out of the Fortier Fanily Cheer Center.

In its first try, Galaxy captured the National Cheerleaders Association title in the Large Senior Co-Ed Restricted Level 5 division. The competition was held in Dallas on the weekend of March 2 and 3.

“This is the top team in our gym. They come from the edge of Maine almost into New Hampshire to seek us out, so it’s nothing short of amazing,” said Deneka Deletetsky, who coached the team with her sister, Tiffany LeBrun, and Matt Hanley.

Planet Cheer defeated two Texas gyms from Amarillo and Forney to win its division, in which the teams are comprised of both girls and boys from the wide age range of 10 to 18. It is the first Maine team to win an NCA title.

Even the coaches were somewhat surprised. Their strategy was to help many of the younger cheerleaders test the waters a bit.

“We wanted to go to a really big-level competition, something new that they hadn’t experienced, in preparation for bigger competitions in the future,” Deletetsky said. “It was to pump the kids up who had never seen anything like that. Just to be able to experience that level of athleticism in our sport and get to watch other gyms that have 800 students and see what those guys are doing.”

Planet Cheer, by comparison, has fewer than 75 registered all-stars.

While some live locally, others hail from far away in each direction on the interstate. Bangor, Dexter and Berwick are among the hometowns represented.

Those athletes make multiple four-hour round trips per week between tryouts in August and the end of competition season in May.

“They come a minimum of twice a week for three-hour practices,” Deletetsky said. “They add tumbling classes or private lessons, so most of them do a minimum of three or four days a week.”

On the mat, other than height and strength, the age difference is almost imperceptible.

Deletetsky said that many of her youngest cheerleaders were reaching Level 5 (the highest level) younger than ever, with limited opportunities.

“Our oldest team was the first team in Maine to go to a competition called Worlds. We decided to move down into a different age bracket because we had younger kids working with higher-level skills,” she said. “We treat them all the same. We treat them like the athletes they are. We keep a pretty tight watch on the type of talk that goes on during breaks and stuff. We focus on only the cheering side and it works pretty well.”

The NCA Nationals are cheerleading’s longest-running championship, and the participation is evidence of that popularity.

There were 995 teams, 21,000 athletes and 32,000 spectators throughout the weekend at this year’s competition.

“It’s like the Mecca for our sport,” Deletetsky said.

Up next: Another national competition.

This one is called the U.S. Finals and is held at eight different regional locations. Galaxy will travel to the one in Virginia Beach.

“You have to get a bid to attend. We had already received the bid,” Deletetsky said. “All the first-place teams get re-judged by video and are ranked nationally. That’s our next big goal.”

Galaxy team members are Abi Bates, Kaitlyn Beckwith, Maggie Belleau, Ranissa Berry, Tia Cortes, Kaitlyn Dube, Alexis Gile, Royce Gillium, Kayleigh Girouard, Shae Godbout, Bekah Gray, Haley Hebert, Maddie Leblond, Caitlyn Lewis, David McKusick, Rachel Monegue, Ally Nason Ashley Pratt, Courtney Smith, Anna Taglieri, Sam Walden, Landon Wilbur, Dustin Wood and Tawni Zamrock.

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