Rankings drop inspires Grandville
cheer team

Friday,
January 26, 2007

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

KENTWOOD -- There were a few members of the
Grandville competitive cheer team that felt slighted when the state rankings
came out this week.

The Bulldogs had been at
No. 2 in Division 1 behind Rochester for most
of the season, but were dropped to No. 3 behind West
Ottawa this week.

The switch in rankings
provided the incentive for a strong effort as Grandville defeated West Ottawa at Thursday's Falcon Invitational No. 2.

The Bulldogs scored 735.6
points at East Kentwood's freshman gymnasium, while West
Ottawa finished with 724.4 points. The host Falcons placed third
with 723.8 points.

Holland Christian, the
area's top Division 2 team, totaled 705.1 points and finished fourth.

"There was definitely
some motivation there," Grandville senior Leah Petrauskas
said. "West Ottawa is always on our
tail and always out to get us so it's intense every week. It just motivates
us to work harder."

Grandville scored 199
points in round 1 and 219.6 points in round 2 before capping off the meet
with the top score in round 3.

The Bulldogs scored 218.6
points to create the 11-point margin.

"It's still January
so we're really starting to fine-tune the little details," Grandville
coach Julie Smith-Boyd said. "The one thing I was really happy with was
we wanted our energy up and we've really been working on the whole
presentation.

"That was really good
tonight, especially in rounds 1 and 2 and our stunts have been hitting all
along. We're scoring pretty well in round 3."

Thursday's meet was a
collection of the top four teams in the area as all four are ranked in the
top 6 in their respective divisions.

"We're just pushing
each other and it's good," Smith-Boyd said. "We don't have to go
far to get good competition so that's nice."

West
Ottawa
coach Kristine Brandt was anticipating higher scores from her squad.

"Our scores didn't go
up as much as I wanted them to, but I thought they looked good," Brandt
said. "Every week our round 2 gets stronger so I'm happy with how
they're doing, but I think our round 3 needs a little work."

Grandville hopes to keep
the momentum going when they travel to the Lake Orion Invitational on
Saturday. West Ottawa is scheduled to
compete at Reeths-Puffer.

"We were happy with
how we performed tonight and each week we have to come out here and give it
our best," Petrauskas said. "There's
always tough competition around here and it helps to prepare us for meets
like we have on Saturday."