The Radford Rams dropped the fearless, crowd-pleasing stunts for a change.

The payoff was huge. Radford upset four-time defending state champion Kamehameha yesterday to win the Large Division of the Zippy’s/Hawaii High School Athletic Association State Cheerleading Championships at Stan Sheriff Arena.

Radford finished with 297 points, well ahead of Kamehameha (267) and Punahou (226). Kamehameha’s string of championships — four in a row — came to an end.

"We changed everything up. We took everything out of our nationals routine," Radford coach Bo Frank said, reflecting on a third-place showing at the Oahu Interscholastic Association championships last week.

"We didn’t even break 300. We didn’t get the scores we thought we would get, so this is a strategy we tried," he said. "We would never do it at nationals, definitely. We wouldn’t make it out of the first round. For Hawaii, it works, unfortunately. I have mixed emotions. I would love to have my full routine on the floor."

A long session last Sunday gave Frank a chance to unveil the new plan to his team. They were as flexible about the change as they were on the mat.

"We wanted a real clean routine and we did it perfect," senior Amber Bookhards said.

"Everybody on our team wanted the same thing," said senior Ridge Frank, a cousin of the coach. "We all wanted to come to the Large Division because we’d been in medium so long."

Moving up to the Large Division (11 to 18 participants) meant Radford wouldn’t have to bench anybody on its 12-member squad.

"We have a lot of talent on our team this year," Bookhards said. "It’s hard to put a whole bunch of people on the side to go to the Medium Division. At least we conquered the Large Division. Everyone doubted us. Everyone."

With a rule change making it easier to compete with a smaller squad, the Large Division had just those three entries this year. The Medium Division had 14 entries, and the competition was fierce. Waimea finished with 317 points, just ahead of perennial powers Moanalua (310) and Mililani (302) to win its first state cheerleading championship. It was the third runner-up finish for Moanalua in as many years: second in the Large Division in 2009, second in the Medium last year.

For Waimea, which has seven juniors and one senior, the victory had coach Roxanne Cardejon — a former Kalaheo coach — shedding tears of joy.

"They had a lot of heart this year," Cardejon said.

It was only the second time Waimea had qualified for the state event, but the Menehunes weren’t completely surprised by their success.

"Our mission is complete," junior Iris Hesapene said.

Running miles and miles in the summer, mainly by the pier in Waimea, was just part of the expectation.

"It was a tough year, a really tough year," senior Omi Gaspar said. "We started running in June."

"We had a lot of fun conditioning. We ran a lot on the beach," Harvette Acosta said.

The parity of the Medium Division was noticeable in the final tally. Only 32 points separated fourth-place Kamehameha-Maui and 11th-place Aiea.

"It’s good. It shows all the levels are picking up, not just Oahu," Frank said of Waimea. "They have some kids and they only have eight kids. Talented group."