Each overcoming rare slip-ups, Kamehameha and Radford repeated as Zippy's/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Cheerleading State Champions yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Kamehameha won its third straight Large Division (minimum 11-person squad) title — and sixth in the past seven years — with a score of 314.5, just 11 points ahead of Moanalua and Mililani.

Radford won its fifth consecutive Medium Division (10-person maximum) championship by an even smaller margin, with 286 points to edge Waiäkea (279.5) and Kapolei (276.5).

Rams coach Bo Frank said his team had posted scores as high as 349 or 350 in the past, so yesterday's score of 286.5 "was not Radford cheerleading at its best."

But he said the difficulty of the Rams' routine was a consideration in the scoring and offset an early fall during a stunt and near-collision during a late gymnastic sequence.

"That was the overall difference — the (degree of) difficulty carried us through," Frank said. "But it's a good thing they put the stunt right back up and finished the double-down, otherwise we wouldn't be standing here with this (first-place) trophy."

As the scores were being read at the end of the competition, the Rams still weren't sure theirs would be enough.

"I was really nervous, I was stressing about it," said Malyssa Barbasa, a senior co-captain. "We were disappointed."

Fellow senior captain Tiana Paling said: "It wasn't a perfect performance, and we didn't feel comfortable about it. It wasn't our best."

Frank said the timing of the early fall was crucial.

"It affected the rest of the routine," Frank said. "We're not used to making that kind of mistake; they did it perfect four times during warm-ups."

Frank said it's possible his team was not as sharp after a three-week break between competitions since the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championships.

"It's hard to keep up that level for three weeks," Frank said. "But it's no excuse — you gotta perform when it's your turn."

Kamehameha-Hawai'i (270.5) finished fourth, followed by Punahou (262.5), Kaiser (262), Kalani (259), Castle (258), Baldwin (225.5), 'Aiea (220) and Kamehameha-Maui (211.5).

In the Large Division, Moanalua (303.5) finished second ahead of Mililani (303.5) based on a tiebreaker factoring in scoring for cheerleading fundamentals. Waimea (299) was fourth, and Farrington (247.5) was fifth.

Like Radford, Kamehameha overcame a rare fall to win thanks to a routine rated high in difficulty.

But unlike Radford, the Warriors' slip happened near the end of the routine, which had been executed well to that point.

"We're lucky our coaches set us up for success," said Kamehameha senior co-captain Chelsea Bega. "We didn't perform our best, but we knew it's the journey that counts and we worked really hard. Thankfully, the judges were able to see how hard our routine was."

Another senior co-captain, Robbi Bulatao, said the Warriors were unsure of the outcome but were willing to live with the results, no matter how it turned out.

"Our coach (Melissa Beimes) said to keep the faith and keep our heads up," Bulatao said. "We still did a good job and I'm proud of our team. I'm glad the judges considered the difficulty."

Beimes said the Kamehameha program's high standards paid off.

"We pride ourselves in being the best we can be, but our timing was a little off at the end," Beimes said. "But when that happens in practice, we just say, 'Let it go' and keep working hard until the finish. We always teach them to fight back and keep their heads high, not feel sorry for themselves.

"We had to squeeze this one out, but I'm very glad the judges recognized our routine."