Cheerleaders Spike Drink To Sicken Teammate -- Two On Bainbridge High Squad Benched For Season

Some Bainbridge High School cheerleaders tried to disable a squad member by spiking her drink with a vomit-inducing potion just before the first home game of the football season.

When the syrup of ipecac didn't put her out of action, her teammates - who didn't think she was a good enough cheerleader - laid plans to try again, with an increased dosage.

The girls' scheme was exposed by the head cheerleader before a second attempt could be carried out. The School Board has suspended some of the girls for the rest of the football season, although they can return for the basketball season. Also, an assault report has been filed with police, but the case appears to be inactive.

Kathleen Sullivan, mother of the cheerleader whose drink was spiked, said her daughter and school officials have handled the episode with more class than have the parents of the other cheerleaders.

"Not one of them has called us to say they're sorry," Sullivan said yesterday. "It was very brutal, in my opinion, and it was evil. We're very sad about it."

Ann Noble, mother of the head cheerleader, said two other cheerleaders bought a bottle of ipecac at a drugstore and slipped some into the drink at a poster-painting party Sept. 20.

"They wanted to put her out of the game because they didn't think she was a good enough cheerleader," Noble said.

Noble said her daughter was told about the plot but didn't go along with it, leaving the room where the drinks were being set up by name tags. Her daughter didn't drink anything, fearing her drink might be spiked, too.

Ipecac is used in emergencies to induce vomiting in someone who has ingested certain types of poison, and the girls knew that it also is used by bulimics. Sold over the counter in small bottles, it carries a warning that it should be given only on the advice of a doctor or poison-control center.

Although the cheerleader drank the spiked drink, she was able to participate in the various school activities.

"When I arrived at the game, I felt drugged and dizzy," the cheerleader wrote in a statement for police, "but I felt it was from the Sudafed that my boyfriend had given me earlier for a head cold."

She managed to cheer through the game and even attend a cheerleaders' car wash the next day.

Some days later, when the others were planning to try again, the head cheerleader exposed the plot.

The head cheerleader was given a one-game suspension from the squad. Her mother thinks that's unfair. Two other cheerleaders were suspended from the squad for the rest of the football season. A fourth cheerleader was suspended, but her punishment was unclear. No one on the eight-member squad was suspended from school.

The School Board decided on the sanctions, according to Ann Noble.

Dave Ellick, principal of the 1,100-student school, said the incident was "thoroughly reviewed, and it's over and done."

The episode was handled quietly to avoid embarrassing the cheerleaders, especially right before the Oct. 18 homecoming dance, which was sponsored by the cheerleader squad, parents said.

Cheerleader Coach Marnie Snyder declined to comment other than to say, "I love them all - I will say that. They are just really great kids."

Sullivan said her daughter is still trying to get along with the others.

"But she sure learned what it's like," the mother said. "The cheerleader mentality."