Cheerleaders

Siobhan Latta thought her expectations were high. Apparently, they weren't high enough. Latta, a Father Judge cheerleading coach, wanted her squad to make the super varsity finals at the National High School Cheerleading Championships. But the Crusaders did much more than reach the finals of the large-school portion. Father Judge placed fourth in the competition, held Feb. 10 to Feb. 12 at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. Cardinal O'Hara, which also reached the finals, finished 15th.

Members of the Lindenboro Chargers' most senior cheerleading unit get something to jump up and down about when they retire. As a reward for boosting the 135-pound midget football team through the season, Lindenboro sends its departing veterans to Disney World each year. Fund-raising drives are held to pay for the trip, and this season 10 of the 15 cheerleaders for the 135s were able to make the trip, which was taken during the third week of January for five days. "Many of them have been with us since they were 7, and they put a lot of hard work in," said Mary Levering, one of the head coaches of the 135s cheerleaders and president of the Lindenboro Chargers cheerleading organization.

Wil Reynolds wanted to give cheerleaders for Philadelphia a voice. So he gave them Phillyblog.com as a bullhorn. Reynolds, founder of the Internet marketing firm Seer Interactive, co-founded Philly-blog.com in November 2002 with Jennifer Kronstain, chief executive of KMG Worldwide. It now has more than 12,000 members. Q. How did you get into blogging? A. Since I work with the Internet every day, it seemed natural. I really love Philly, so part of the reason why I started Philly blog.

IN THE Dec. 12 edition, we were asked to vote for our favorite Eagles cheerleader squad. Why in a city with an African-American mayor, fire commissioner, police commissioner, where the majority of residents are African-American, with an Eagles team that is at least 75 percent African-American, and the star player (Donovan McNabb) is also African- American - why is this cheerleading squad about 10 percent African-American? Did my black sisters not show up for the audition? T. Parker Sicklerville, N.J. The unplowed Northeast I was so relieved to read that Frank Keel got home safely to Montgomery County during the city's latest snowstorm.

The other members of the Philadelphia 76ers Dream Team look up to Maryann Wenger in more than one sense. Not only is the Burlington Township woman one of the tallest members of the team at 5-foot-8, but her sister cheerleaders, she said, "call me the grandmom," because at a geriatric 28, she's senior to the 14 other members of the squad. In July, Wenger beat out plenty of younger tryout rivals in making the team, earning the dubious right to endure preseason practices two to three times a week.

Representatives from the Monroe Township Midget Football cheerleading association have filed charges with Township Council against the Midget Football Organization, contending that the cheerleaders are victims of discrimination. The representatives, most of them mothers of cheerleaders, said that the cheerleaders are being discriminated against in everything from registration fees to the size of trophies awarded at the end of the season. At the council meeting on April 20, the director of cheerleading, Sharon Fillis, whose daughter is one of the organization's 72 cheerleaders, presented a two-page report listing 12 instances of bias by the Midget Football Organization.

The Bensalem school board Wednesday evening faced a group well-trained in being passionately vocal. About 20 Bensalem High School varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders protested a recent school decision to ban "mounts" from their repertoire. " 'No one hits the ground' is our overall motto," said Nicole Henry, a senior on the varsity squad and a student school board representative. "Safety is the issue here, but that is also our major concern. " In dispute is the safety of certain routines in which performers stand atop a pyramid of shoulders high above what can be a hardwood basketball court or a cinder track.

For three days now, the NFL-cheerleaders-gone-wild story coming out of Florida has been hot, hot, hot on the Internet. Keywords? Cheerleaders. Lesbian sex. Cat fight. The facts? Two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders - Angela Keathley, 26, and Renee Thomas, 20 - allegedly had sex Sunday in a bathroom stall of a nightclub in Tampa, then came out swinging, sparking a barroom scuffle. Talk about getting your game on. For guys, it's a dream sequence straight out of Pay-Per-View.

Players come and go - and so do cheerleaders. Every year, hundreds of young women compete to make the Eagles' squad of stadium sideline dancers that has been ranked among the best in the NFL. This year, the first round of tryouts is Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia, with registration beginning at 10 a.m. "The auditions are going to be competitive!" said Barbara Zaun, the team's director of cheerleading. "We had 275 women attend the optional pre-audition workshops that we hosted earlier this month so we are expecting a good turnout," she said.

"Good golly, Miss Molly" are the words Little Richard belts out in his 1958 rock hit. "You sure can have a ball" or something like that. And something like a ball is just what the varsity cheerleading squad at Sterling High School in Somerdale expects when the team travels to Anaheim tomorrow to compete for the national cheerleading title. The 15-member squad already has had a ball anticipating and preparing for the competition, said coach Jill Callaghan, 27, a chemistry teacher.

The Eagles cheerleaders will host their annual calendar shoot in New Jersey, as a way to help rebuild parts of the Shore devastated by superstorm Sandy. Each of the 38 members of the new cheerleading squad, selected late last month, will be photographed at locations "that make the Jersey Shore unique and memorable, whether it's Lucy the Elephant in Margate, the Cape May Lighthouse, or Morey's Piers in Wildwood," according to a news release. All net proceeds will go to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, which is chaired by Pat Christie, the governor's wife.

L AUREN BOGGI Goldenberg, 35, of Center City, is founder and CEO of Lithe Method, a "cardio-cheer-sculpting" fitness regimen that has evolved into a full-fledged Lithestyle brand with food, "studio-to-street" activewear and a blog, fithiphealthy.com. Q: How did you come up with the idea for Lithe Method? A: I was a cheerleader and hurt my shoulder and eventually started teaching Pilates but got bored. I missed my cheerleader routine and started doing my own thing. Q: What's behind the name?

The Eagles announced their new cheerleading squad this morning, following Monday night's audition finale at the Kimmel Center. Hundreds attended the sold-out event, hosted by 94 WIP's Spike Eskin, at the Perelman Theater, to see 60 young women perform dance routines, demonstrate their poise and fitness, and field personalized questions about everything from bullying to running a business. Just 38 were chosen, including 30 returnees, by a panel of 10 judges that included former Eagles running back Ricky Watters, co-owner Christina Weiss Lurie, and defensive end Raheem Brock, who went to Temple.

More than 400 young women flocked to Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday with hopes of making the new Eagles cheerleading squad. That squad will have even more interaction with fans this summer, now that some free practices will be held at the Linc, since the team is no longer using Lehigh University. "The cheerleaders will be appearing at all of those practices and fans will have the opportunity to meet the cheerleaders, and get a photo as well as autographs," said Barbara Zaun, director of cheerleading.

"I'm excited! This is such an honor!" exclaimed Alexandra Warner, a raven-tressed 20-year-old from Allentown, after being named top Wingette this morning. She beat 105 other women, to also win a Harley Davidson during Wing Bowl XXI, held at a soldout Wells Fargo Center. Warner got 56 percent of the texted-in votes, according to 94 WIP blaster of ceremonies, Angelo Cataldi. And it was just her first trip to the annual gorge-aganza, which was won by James "The Bear" McDonald from Connecticut.

THE COLTS defeated the visiting Bills, 20-13, Sunday. But the biggest winners in Lucas Oil Stadium were two Indianapolis cheerleaders who shaved their heads in support of Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this season. Two weeks ago, cheerleader Megan M. said she would shave her head if she and Blue, the team mascot, could raise $10,000 for the Colts' "ChuckStrong" campaign. They more than doubled that amount, raising $22,670, and Megan agreed to live up to her end of the deal.

On gridiron sidelines across the nation this weekend, cheerleading squads will treat folks in the stands to gymnastic performances that go well beyond rousing any hometown football crowd. In fact, there's less and less that's old-school about cheerleading routines - other than the fact that cheering remains mostly a female preserve, at least at the high school level. But the athletic stunts that now make up much of cheerleading - the tosses, flips, and towering human pyramids - provide thrills that too often come with a steep price, when cheerleaders take a tumble.

This story has been updated. An Audubon woman has been charged with looting $9,400 from a South Jersey competitive cheerleading squad to help what she believed was a man she had met through an online dating site, police said Friday. "She got scammed," Audubon Police Detective Tim Stillman said of Susan Loberto, who, until her arrest Tuesday, was treasurer of the Oaklyn Cats Cheerleading Club. Loberto, 50, told police she met a man through Chemistry.com about a month ago and became emotionally involved with him. The man told her he was from Pennsylvania but was on a construction project in Africa, she said.

An Audubon woman has been arrested and charged with looting $9,400 from the account of a South Jersey competitive cheerleading squad to send money to a man she met at an online dating site, police said. "She got scammed," Audubon Police Detective Tim Stillman said of Susan Loberto, who, until her arrest, had been treasurer of the Oaklyn Cats Cheerleading Club. Police said Loberto, 50, became involved with a man who claimed to be from Pennsylvania she met at Chemistry.com. The man told Loberto that he was on a construction project in Africa and that he was having problems accessing his bank account.