Six teams bound for cheer finals

Sunday,
March 04, 2007

Gazette
Staff Reports

Heather Prentice ticked
off each of the six area competitive cheer teams who qualified for the March
9-10 state meet and paused.

``What a great day for Southwest Michigan,'' Prentice said.

Prentice's Portage
Northern squad won the Division 2 regional on its home mats and joined Three
Rivers (Division 3) and Colon
(Division 4) as regional champions Saturday.

Mattawan, Otsego and Gobles
also secured spots in the Michigan High School Athletic Association state
finals at the DeltaPlex in Grand
Rapids.

Division 2

Prentice said the Huskies
took a simple approach into their regional.

``They went in to have
their best day. They didn't focus on other teams, they focused on themselves
and wanted it to be their best day,'' Prentice said.

The Huskies delivered,
riding the leadership of seniors Rebecca Chicoine,
Jessica Fischer, Kelsey Gonzales, Amanda Kocesas
and Kelly Wilkinson to 680.9 points -- their highest total of the season.
Mattawan claimed the second state-qualifying spot by scoring 678.4 points,
just two-tenths of a point ahead of third-place St. Joseph.

Northern's round scores were 190.5, 200.9 and
289.5. Prentice said the second round was key for
her squad.

``We have the most
difficult Round 2 out of everyone in our regional, and I knew if we hit that
(routine) we could take the advantage there,'' Prentice said. ``In the third
round we just needed to hit it and be clean.''

Division 3

Three Rivers coach Gia Sapatini said calling the
Wildcats' first regional victory in the program's 15-year history ``a
surprise'' was a little strong.

``But it is a dream come
true,'' Sapatini said. ``We weren't favored, but we
showed everybody that we believed in ourselves.

``Our theme this year is
`Make the Dream Real' -- that's what we say in our cheers -- and the girls
made it real.''

Three Rivers rolled to
677.7 points to edge second-place Otsego (675.2), which earned the second
qualifying spot for the state finals.

An excellent effort in the
third round produced a score of 297.5 -- ``Our highest score ever,'' Sapatini said -- to put the Wildcats over the top.

``They stuck every stunt
and believed. Their confidence showed in their face and their vocals were
excellent,'' Sapatini said. ``I'm so proud of
them.''

Three Rivers had scores of
186.5 and 193.7 in Rounds 1 and 2, respectively. Otsego's round scores were
184, 199 and 292, Sapatini said.

Sapatini, a former Three Rivers cheerleader
who was named Regional Coach of the Year, credited seniors Kristen Bradley,
Brooke Carpenter, Kayla Henegar, Sam Kiper, Krista Kulwicki, Jessica
Pokorny and Bridget Parsons for spearheading the
best season in program history.

``They put in a lot of
time and a lot effort,'' Sapatini said. ``They
truly are unbelievable.

``They used to call me
`The Cheer Psycho' when I first took over. They'd say, `You cheer psycho.'
Now, they joke that we're all cheer psychos.''

Division 4

Colon seniors Keeley
Boals and Melissa Thornton are 4-for-4: Four years
as cheerleaders for the Magi and four trips to the Division 4 state meet.

Boals and Thornton joined fellow seniors
Becca Downs and Autumn Rolin
in leading Colon to the 659.9 points and their
second straight regional championship at Schoolcraft High School.

Gobles scored 628.9 points
to grab the second state-qualifying spot ahead of Schoolcraft (607.5).

The difference for Colon, coach Jayne Sabaitis said, was a sterling performance in the first
round.

``We had the best Round 1
we've had all season,'' Sabaitis said. ``We just
haven't had the excitement and energy we needed in Round 1 and our jumps have
been a little bit off all season, but it all came together today. Everything
was right on.''

The coach credited Boals and Thornton for playing a large role in Colon's four straight
trips to state.

``They really started the
(program's) tradition back four years ago and have just kept their leadership
going,'' Sabaitis said.

Division 1

Portage Central finished
eighth, Kalamazoo Central 11th and Loy Norrix 12th at East Kentwood
High School. Grandville
won the title and East Kentwood finished
second to earn spots in the state meet.