Sunday, March 4, 2007

Panthers
fall short of state finals berth

West Ottawa places third by
less than a point at cheer regional

By
MATT PICKEL Special to The Sentinel

The West
Ottawa competitive cheer team fell just short of qualifying for the state
finals, placing third in the Michigan High School Athletic Association
Competitive Cheer Regionals Saturday at East Kentwood
High School.

With a final score of
736.8 points, the Panthers were nine-tenths of a point away from second-place
East Kentwood and 10.1 points away from
first place Grandville. The top two teams advance to the state finals.

"We have the
hardest region in the state," West Ottawa
coach Kristine Brandt said.

"I knew that us,
Grandville and East Kentwood are ranked basically
the same, and we were within five points every round so I knew that it was
going to be tight the whole day, but it's not how I thought it would
turnout."

Brandt added that she
didn't know who would take first or second coming in, but she thought the
Panthers would be one of those two teams.

"I have juniors
and seniors on the team that had this happen to them last year, so more than
anything they did not want this to happen again," Brandt said.

"I think that
our mindset all week was that we have to leave everything out there today
because we're competing with the best in the state."

Rockford (fourth, 686.6),
Jenison (fifth, 679.9), Forest Hills (sixth,
677.2), Hudsonville (seventh, 642.8) and Portage Central (eighth, 623.4)
rounded out the top eight.

Teams are scored by
round. Round one is based on vocals, formation and team coordination and
timing. Round two is based on skills and round three is a combination of
everything along with how well stunts are performed.

Brandt said round one
was one of the best she'd seen from her team this year.

"We started off
really well today," she said. "Our round one we really drilled that
a lot this week. Honestly, I think it was our best round one to date."

By the final round, West Ottawa found itself trailing Grandville by 4.6
points.

"We knew
Grandville and East Kentwood stuck their
round three solid, so it had to be a flawless round in order to place in the
top two," Brandt said. "I think for some of them it was fuel, and
for some of them it was being petrified because they didn't want to lose.
It's just the little things that made the difference."

Assistant coach Jen VanSlooten said even though they had a few mistakes, the
team still had a good day.

"They gave it
all they could," VanSlooten said. "There
were a few mistakes that may have cost them, but they still did a great
job."

Junior Tiffany Vanderploeg said everything happens for a reason.

"It really is
hard not going to state, but we did put our best. It's just hard not
finishing that way, but it happens," she said. "We had a couple
bobbles and stuff, but it just didn't take us to that last step we
needed."

Making the All-Region team from West Ottawa were Heather Fuglseth,
Samantha Moiser and Jamie Overway