Rah, Rah for Rochester

Originally published March
6, 2007

BY DAN STICKRADT

STAFF WRITER

Rochester hit a speed bump in
January, not finishing on top of the pyramid on two separate occasions.
Apparently, the Falcons’ competitive cheer team has ironed out the
kinks in a grand way.

The top-ranked team in
Division 1 captured its 14th straight MHSAA regional championship at Lake Orion
Saturday. The Falcons have won a regional every year, including the days in
the old MCCA tournament. The school has also qualified for the state finals
every year since 1982.

“I think
we’ve made it to state every year I’ve been here and I know it’s 14 straight (regional crowns) in the MHSAA
tournament,” beamed Rochester
coach Susan Wood. “There’s a lot of pressure to succeed with the
alumni and the parents. I just try to keep them focused and prepare them for
the end of the season.”

Rochester amassed 757.4 total
points in the three-round competition, one of the Falcons’ top-five
all-time highest meet scores, to win by 24 points. Lake
Orion was second in the 16-school
field with 733.6 points, as the top two teams from each region advance to the
state finals Friday and Saturday at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids.

Rochester Stoney Creek
was third (719.5) and Rochester Adams fourth (673.6), as area teams took home
the top four slots.

The Falcons won all
three rounds with scores of 204.5, 230.4 and 323.0, while runner-up Lake
Orion was second in all three rounds as well with totals of 196.0, 221.6 and
316.0.

For fifth-ranked Lake Orion,
it marks the Dragons’ 11th trip to the state finals in 13 years and
second straight. Lake
Orion did not make the
cut in 2004 or ‘05.

”It was a great
day for us. Everything went good – no major mistakes,” said Lake Orion
coach Nancy DeAvila. “Rochester was rock
solid, we were rock solid, Stoney Creek had
one its best outings. It was a good regional with a lot of very solid
performances by a lot of teams.”

Stoney Creek posted
scores of 190.0, 216.2 and 313.0 to record its highest season total, while Adams, in its first MHSAA regional in nearly a decade,
finished with scores of 183.0, 193.9 and 297.0 to finish a respectable
fourth.

The Division 1 state finals will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, while the other
three divisions will take place Saturday.

“We made some
changes to our stunt (third) round and actually made it a little tougher. But
for whatever the reason, we seem to be doing better with it,” added
Wood. “We’re peaking at the right time and this is the only time
that really matters.”

OXFORD WINS FIRST REGIONAL

With the change to
four equal divisions this season, Oxford
landed in Division 2. That proved to pay dividends for the Wildcats.

Oxford won its first-ever
regional championship on its home mats Saturday, and qualified for the first
time in school history in the process. The Wildcats posted a season-high
654.4 total to make the cut for Saturday’s 10 a.m. Division 2 state
finals.

“It was chaos,
absolutely amazing,” admitted Oxford
coach Alanna Stockley.
“We had no idea that we won. When they came down to announcing the
scores and got down to the final two, our team went crazy. They were like,
‘Oh my gosh,’ jumping all over and
crying. It was unbelievable.”

Oxford won all three rounds
to topple the 13-school field. St. Clair captured the other team qualifying
spot with 638.0 points.

Auburn Hills Avondale
was seventh (593.6), North Farmington eighth
(566.5) and Farmington Harrison 13th (467.5) to round out area teams.

The unranked Wildcats
took a one-point lead over St. Clair after the first round, 183-182, then
started to pull away by posting a score of 185.9 in Round II.

In the final stunt
round, Oxford
led again with 285.5 points.

“This is our
first time making it (to the state finals), so we’re just going to go
up there and enjoy ourselves and see what we can do,” added Stockley. “We have a lot of senior on this team that have worked to get to this point. Anything
after this is gravy. They’re just glad to have finally made it.”