Mona Shores cheer team peaking as tourney nears

Thursday, February
08, 2007

By
Scott Brandenburg

CHRONICLE
CORRESPONDENT

Katelyn Petersen is on an impressive run
in her athletic career at Mona
Shores.

In her freshman season,
Peterson easily made the transition to competitive cheerleading and hasn't
slowed down since. Now a junior, she is on top of her game no matter which of
the many skills are required to compete in all three levels of the sport.

"She really made an
impact for us right from the start," said Mona Shores
co-coach Kristia Whitaker. "She wowed us as a
freshman when she came in and was the only freshman to make the varsity and
she's continued to impress us with her leadership and commitment ever
since."

With Petersen leading the
way, Mona Shores is steering into uncharted
waters.

For the first time in the
history of the program, the Sailors are ranked No. 5 in Division 2 state
polls and Peterson has been the driving force to Shores' success.

"It's been a lot of
hard work," said Petersen. "It's a lot to remember. Performing so
well with this team and getting ranked so high makes all the hard work worth
it."

Each of three levels in a
competitive cheer competition has a different requirement, so Petersen brings
something different to each routine.

At various times Petersen
is a key jumper, a tumbler and the back spot -- or what Shores co-coach Tanya
Ramm calls the "CEO of the stunt group."

As the back spot, Petersen
is required to keep her eyes on the head and neck of the flyer at all times
for safety purposes.

Petersen handles each responsibility,
including being the team captain and leader of the squad, in stride.

"Katelyn
is mature beyond her years," said Ramm.
"She's a wonderful leader both on and off the mat. She's someone the
team looks to and depends on."

The Sailors have increased
the difficulty of their routines, one of the reasons their scores are higher
and are getting more recognition across the state.

In round 2, the Sailors
added a back tuck, one of two moves which earn the highest difficulty marks
and are performing it well.

"It's exciting doing
the more difficult skills because we know now that we can compete with the
schools who've always done them," said
Petersen. "We're starting to get recognized for our hard work and skills
and people are starting to respect us. They can see now that we work just as
hard and compete as hard as in any other sport."

Mona Shores continues to improve, posting its
best score two weeks ago at the Shoreline Invitational at Reeths-Puffer.

Now Petersen's just got
one thing on her mind -- making it to state. When asked about the regional
competition, she didn't hesitate answering March 3 in Cedar Springs.

"We'd love to make
history," said Petersen. "It's going to be pretty close for the top
two spots, but I know if we keep working hard we can be one of those teams
going to state."