Saturday, March 10, 2007

Maroons
seek programs first state title

By
MATT PICKEL Special to The Sentinel

SEEKING
A TITLE: Back row: Left to right, coach Beth Cunningham, assistant coach
Peggy Lintemuth, Charlotte Oonk,
Krissie Bartles, Sara Woodwyk, Courtney Petroelje,
Katie Prins, assistant coach Darlene Draisma, assistant coach Kendra Neil. Middle row: Left
to right, Miranda VanDeburg, Ashley Baumann, Meg Vogelzang, Anna Genzink, Liz Lambers, Katelyn VerHage. Front row: Left to right: Sam Klassen, Katlyn Prince, Kelly
Morsman, Brittani Slenk,
Sarah Rietema.

It's the
weekend they've been working for all season.

First-year
Holland Christian competitive cheer coach Beth Cunningham is hoping a 'wow'
performance at today's state finals will translate into the program's first
state title.

"Our
goals this season were to win a regional championship and go to the state
finals," Cunningham said. "We're going for a 'wow'. We'll see where
that puts us. We're just really going for full-out performance and quality,
and that's our focus of the week."

The
Division 2 competition starts at 10 a.m today at
the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids.

The
Maroons, ranked No. 1 in the state, won the Division 2 regional championship
last Saturday at Cedar Springs with 670.8 points.

There are
several of schools that have great teams, Cunningham said, including No. 2
Mount Pleasant, No. 3 Allen Park and No. 4 Dewitt.

"I
think we all have really great programs and are all having great years,"
she said. "I think whoever is the most clean and has the best
performance and floor presence will walk away with the championship."

Senior Krissie Bartels said beating their own score and not
looking at the scores of other teams is what the team is focused on.

"We're
going into it not thinking about the other teams," she said. "We're
just thinking about doing our best. We're making sure that we're focusing on
ourselves and not the other teams."

The
Maroons aren't feeling any extra pressure because of their No. 1 ranking.

"We
don't even look at the rankings," Cunningham said. "We're really
going into this week not feeling any pressure and not even thinking about a
state championship, but thinking about doing our best, enjoying the state
finals experience and enjoying the moment. The girls are ready to give their
best performance out there. We'll fall where we should."

For added
inspiration, the girls are bringing in quotes to read during practice.

"We're
making sure that each round we do is quality and that we're not overdoing
anything and making sure that every time we do it it's the best we can do
it," Bartels said. "If that's what took us to the state finals then
we were happy about that."

The team
consists of eight seniors: Sara Woodwyk, Ashley
Baumann, Anna Genzink, Katlyn
Prince, Katie Prins, Meg Vogelzang,
Liz Lambers and Bartels.

Cunningham
said even though the team switches captains each week, the seniors always
have that extra responsibility to the team.

"They're
all experienced and have been with the program and cheered for four
years," Cunningham said. "You hope your team will make it to the
state finals. As a senior, that's what you hope for. They're a great group of
girls. It's a really unique team in that they're very close and really care
for one another. To be able to coach that is great."

Vogelzang said, win or lose, she wants to have a
positive impact on her teammates.

"Everyone
on the team keeps saying 'do it for your
seniors,'" Vogelzang said. "This is our
last time we'll ever be performing as a team. It's really sad but exciting at
the same time. When I leave, I want the girls to have a positive attitude no
matter what happens."