Cheerleading teams compete in Beach for more than 70 titles

VIRGNIA BEACH

Kimberly Ruffin brandishes a mean curling iron - and she knows how to use it.

Good thing, too, because that cute hairstyle her daughter Chelsea sported Sunday morning simply wasn't going to cut it in the afternoon.

"For my team this morning, I needed a pouf, half-up and half-down with a straight ponytail," Chelsea Ruffin said between performances at the two-day U.S. Finals - The Final Destination cheerleading and dancing competition at a packed Virginia Beach Convention Center. "This afternoon, for my other team, it's no pouf, high ponytail and big Texas curls. It can get kind of stressful."

"Yeah," Kimberly Ruffin said, "and I'm always trying to find a place to plug in."

It's no surprise that spare outlets were at a premium. With 634 cheerleading teams - or more than 10,000 athletes - vying for more than 70 titles at various ages and levels, the convention center's lobby resembled a rush-hour Grand Central Station of ponytailed princesses, and the occasional prince.

"More boys are getting into this all the time," Alex Kimmel of Pennsylvania's Cheertyme said.

With even more spectators and coaches on hand than participants, event organizers estimated that more than 20,000 people from as far away as Texas spent at least part of their weekend at the event. About 14,000 were in the building on Saturday alone, said event manager Tina Wellington, who added that it was the largest number of visitors to the building at one time for any of its events.

Fortunately for all concerned, the U.S. Finals are choreographed more tightly than most of the cheerleading routines. After brief warm-ups on a series of practice mats, each team awaited its turn behind the stage of one of two performance halls. Some used that time to get motivated.

"What time is it!" screamed one of the members of the Massachusetts-based JAG Cheer Training Center before the group stepped in front of the lights.

"Game time!" her teammates replied.

Once a routine was finished, the athletes huddled backstage in front of a flat-screen TV and critiqued a tape of the show they'd just put on.

Finally, in a separate ballroom, t echno-pop music heralded the parade of teams on stage for the awards ceremony, where a dramatic countdown ensued until the division's champion was unveiled to shrieks of applause.

So stunned was Mike Johnson of Georgia's Ellenwood All-Star Cheerleading teams that the coach put his right hand to his heart, extended his left arm and made like Fred Sanford fak ing a heart attack.

"We had a drop on one of our pyramids, and we still took it," Johnson said. "Unbelievable."

The top finishers received giant trophies - CUA Cheer and Dance's second-place award was almost as big as 5 -year-old team member Taylor Hovington.

As soon as the awards ceremony was over, however, Taylor was finished for the day as a pint-size athlete.

Her mother would insist on it.

"It's fun for them to get all dressed up and play little divas," Denise Hovington said. "But then it's, 'OK, we're in the car now. Time to get back to normal.' "

Paul White, (757) 418-1447, paul.white@pilotonline.com