’Cats take first at Farwell; place third at Mt. Pleasant

February 8, 2007

Racking up the most points so far this season,
Houghton Lake earned the top cheer spot at
Farwell Feb. 1. It was the first Jack Pine Conference competitive cheer
competition, and it is expected to be an annual event, with Harrison, Meridian, Roscommon and
Farwell competing.

A strong Round 1 performance of 189 points set the stage for the
Bobcats to out-cheer their closest competitors, the Harrison Hornets.

“We have a very strong Round 1 and the team performed it very
well,” Coach Celeste Kubiak said. “For
Round 2 we had to make more changes in our tumbling skills, even changing the
line-up at the beginning of the week.”

The ’Cats led Round 2 with a score of 177.4, and Round 3 with a score
of 282.5.

“I was exceptionally proud of Patsy Gardner’s performance in this
round, as it was her first time performing this cheer,” Kubiak said. “Round 3 continues
to improve and we earned our highest score this year for that cheer.”

Final scores were Houghton Lake 648.9; Harrison, 582; Meridian, 562.6; Roscommon, 476.3; and
Farwell, 459.4.

In the JV Division, Houghton
Lake placed third out
of three (416.6) against Harrison JV and Meridian JV.

During the meet four varsity Bobcats were named to the Jack Pine conference
cheerleading team. They were Sara Lockhart, Stephanie Foster, Adrian Kearns
and Jacqueline Hallauer.

At Mt. Pleasant’s invitational Feb. 3, the Varsity ’Cats
scored 609.5, placing third out of six teams. They were bested by Chippewa
Hills, 744.1; and Chesaning, 738.2. Rounding out the division were Harrison,
598.5; Central Montcalm, 587.9; and Bay City
Western, 530.

The JV Bobcats placed third out of four teams with a score of 416.9. They
cheered against Harrison, Chippewa Hills and
Heritage.

“They’re working really hard now,” JV Coach Becky Homan
said, adding they are preparing for their home invitational, “Cheer on
the Lake,” Feb. 17.

Both the varsity and junior Bobcat squads compete tonight (Thursday) at Meridian and again
Saturday at Roscommon.