West Ottawa surprises
Grandville

Sunday,
February 25, 2007

By Jane
Bos

The Grand Rapids Press

HOLLAND -- Going into the final round of
the O-K Red Conference meet, Mallory Tanis and the West
Ottawa competitive cheer team knew they trailed favored
Grandville by less than three points.

That pumped the Panthers
up. That propelled them to the championship.

Behind a stellar
performance in the final round, host West Ottawa
pulled it off, scoring a total of 733.0 to win the meet crown. And that,
coupled with dual-meet champion Grandville's third-place finish Saturday,
helped the Panthers, ranked third in the state in Division 1, win the overall
Red championship.

East
Kentwood,
ranked fourth in the state, finished second at the conference meet with a
score of 720.9, while the state's second-ranked team, Grandville, was third
with 717.0.

"We were really
confident going into the final round," said Tanis,
one of 14 seniors for West Ottawa. "We
just really wanted to go for first place at conference. Last year, we had
sort of a rebuilding year, and we just knew this team had a lot of talent,
and that we could do it."

They did.

Trailing the defending
conference champion Bulldogs 422.5-420.0 after two rounds, the Panthers
scored 310.0 in the open round to win.

"Everything was
on," said West Ottawa coach Kristine
Brandt, who was a senior in 2002, the last time the Panthers won the outright
title. "They wanted to win, they were confident they could win. They
wanted it, and they found it."

East
Kentwood
came close. During the third round, a 14-point penalty for an error in
performing a stunt cost the Falcons. They wound up scoring a 302.5 in the
final round instead.

"We were thrilled
about today, actually," said Stephanie Stephenson, one of East Kentwood's co-coaches. "We did a phenomenal
job. The girls just performed so well. I think coming in here, everyone kind
of counted East Kentwood out, and the girls
just did so well."

When the dual-meet and
conference performances were totaled up, West Ottawa won with a total of 11
points, followed by Grandville (10), East Kentwood (9), Jenison (6), Rockford (4) and
Hudsonville (2).

These same teams square
off Saturday in the regionals hosted by East Kentwood. Only the top two teams advance to the
state meet the following weekend.

"All three teams are
just so close, it's going to be great next week, too," Tanis said. "We really wanted to win
again at regionals.

O-K BLUE AT CEDAR SPRINGS:
Comstock Park, ranked No. 1 in Division 3, won
Saturday's final conference tournament with a three-round total of 722.6.
Cedar Springs (698.1) finished second, while Sparta (677.2) was third."

O-K GOLD/WHITE AT BYRON CENTER:
Forest Hills edged the host Bulldogs to take
top honors. Forest Hills finished with a
three-round total of 679.1. Byron
Center (651.2 points)
finished second and Kenowa Hills (648.1) was third.

O-K SILVER AT GODWIN HEIGHTS:
Allendale topped runner-up Godwin
Heights with a score of
629.4. The Wolverines finished at 615.4, while Calvin Christian rounded out
the top three with 583.6.