PUBLISHED:
Sunday, January 21, 2007

Under a microscope

By NATE SCHNEIDER

Sun Sports Writer

The Chippewa Hills competitive cheer team
doesn't want to be a one-hit wonder.

Riding the wave of momentum from last year's memorable finish
into this season has brought with it a new perspective and many new
challenges for the Warriors, but the expectations remain as high as ever.

After relishing the underdog role last year and carrying that
frame of mind all the way to the first competitive cheer state title in
school history, Chippewa Hills now finds itself in a different situation as
it's been the top-ranked team in Division 3 since the beginning of the
season.

On Saturday afternoon, the Warriors hosted a home invitational
and showed a glimpse of why they are so highly regarded as the end result
netted the squad a victory while also keeping them undefeated in the early
stages of the 2006-2007 campaign with four wins in four invites.

"I've always heard the story that it is harder to stay on
top than it is to get to the top and at this point in the season I would
agree with that," Chippewa Hills coach Jenna Ruddell
said. "The community has an expectation, the kids have an expectation, the parents have an expectation. And from the rankings,
the chair community of Michigan
has an expectation. So it is very hard to live up to that. People are going
to watch us under a microscope."

The Warriors lived up to those expectations Saturday as they
scored a total of 664.5 points to take the win, well ahead of runner-up and
Division 3 honorable mention Gladstone
(600).

It was a start-to-finish victory for Chip Hills as it posted
the high score in each round, scoring a 188.5 in round one and a 197.5 in
round two before finishing the day with a 278.5 in the third round.

"We love being in our home gym. The crowd is amazing and
the energy is great," Warrior senior Jill Schlegel said.

Schlegel added that being the ones everyone is gunning for
only helps to keep the team focused on each task at hand.

"It makes you feel good (being top-ranked), but we use it
as a drive. It makes you work that much harder," Schlegel said. "We
are strong and stick together. Champions make sacrifices,
that is our thing this year."

There was also a bit of adversity the Warriors had to put
behind them in a quick fashion, as the injury bug forced the team to scramble
at the last minute to be ready for Saturday's competition.

"We had an injury to one of the girls (Friday) night
during the basketball game so we had to stay at school until 10:30 p.m and rework all three rounds. I am very happy with how
we performed considering the changes we made in our formatting," Ruddell said. "The stunt group that I had to put
together last night didn't drop a stunt and really took a step as a
group."

The Division 4 portion of the competition was won by Merrill
as it scored 611.4 points, while Munising finished in second place.

This Wednesday, the Warriors remain at home for the Chippewa
Hills Cheer Fest, a competition that will include Division 2 top-ranked Mt. Pleasant.
Action is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.