The Radford cheerleading squad is going to have to make up a new rhyme.

The Rams exuded confidence from the time they entered the arena at the Zippy’s/HHSAA Cheerleading State Championships at the Blaisdell Arena on Saturday, chanting "We’re the best in the state, we’re going for eight" in the middle of their routine.

All squads turn into old-school rappers during these competitions, but Radford’s belief turned into their eighth straight state title, their second in the large division after six in a row in the middle division. Waimea was nearly flawless to repeat as medium division champions.

The OIA champion Rams scored 332 points to beat Kamehameha (302) and ILH champion Pac-Five (198). Because of their high degree of difficulty, Radford knew that if it hit its marks it would be in contention. The Rams slipped up just enough to make the two hours between the time they came off the mat until the winner was announced more than a little bit nerve-wracking.

"When we first stepped on the floor, it was weird," Radford senior Kyly Antonio said. "It kinda felt rushed in a way. We stepped off the floor knowing we hit a good routine, but it wasn’t our best routine. To win this, it was just, like, the best feeling."

Radford stepped on a sign, and coach Bo Frank said his team’s timing was off on tumbling a little bit, but that it was so much better than earlier this season. The state’s cheerleading dynasty finished fourth in the OIA West this year and barely recovered in time to win the OIA championships last week. That is all over now, though, as the Rams can head to a national competition in Dallas in January, calling themselves state champions. Radford has won that competition the last three years and is going for grand champion this time around.

"The main thing is they didn’t fall apart after (the minor mistakes)," Frank said. "Sometimes when you win seven championships in a row the motivation is not there, but they fought through that and that is what champions are made of."

Despite their outward confidence, the Rams felt like they were far from on top of their game. Junior Malia Moore was one of many Rams who went in feeling the weight of keeping the string going.

"I was really nervous because I had a really bad warm-up," Moore said. "My tumbling, I would fall on my face, so my confidence was down, but I wanted to push through for the team. I knew there were some mistakes, but I knew that we hit it and put our heart on the floor."

Kamehameha ends a season without an ILH or state championship for the first time ever, but still has its own national competition in Orlando, Fla., in February. A loss to a team like Radford will only make the Warriors stronger. Kamehameha has battled injuries all season and hopes to be healthy by then.

"I think our team did a really good job of coming back from last week’s loss," Kamehameha coach Melissa Beimes said. "We knew Radford is a very, very strong team and they have a lot of difficulty; they have proven to still be a powerhouse in cheerleading."

Waimea repeated in the medium division with a score that exceeded Radford’s (344) to beat Moanalua’s 322 and Kaiser’s 292.5. Na Menehune did it despite holding practices with head coach Roxanne Cardejon via FaceTime for the past month while the coach was on Oahu for training. The sense of urgency for Waimea’s large group of seniors made everything work out.

"We were very excited and we wanted to hit everything," Waimea’s Marissa Hesapene said. "After everything we went through to get here, we wanted to just kill it on the mat. This means everything in the world."