Saturday, March 10,
2007

High schools: Competitive cheer finals

Allen Park caps banner season
with third-place cheer showing

Holland Christian wins Division 2 championship; Chesaning tops
Division 3

Cris Greer / Special to The
Detroit News

GRAND
RAPIDS -- Allen Park
finished its best competitive cheer season with a third-place showing in the
Division 2 state finals Saturday at the DeltaPlex.

"We had a little
trouble in our third round and that kind of hurt us going into the final, but
round two was awesome," said Jaguars coach Julie Goodwin, who is in her
fifth season. "It was our strong round today and round one was
good."

"It's been an
unbelievable season. We won our first regional championship and have taken
first and second in every single competition we've had this year. This is
probably our strongest season."

"They're very
talented girls. They have a very strong work ethic and are very committed to
the sport. I knew we were going to have a good year and this is icing on the
cake."

It was a bittersweet
day for Division 2 champion Holland Christian.

The Maroons won their
first state title during assistant coach Peggy Lintemuth's
final competition, finishing nearly 10 points ahead of second-place DeWitt.

Lintemuth, who's been at it for
20 years and began developing the Holland Christian
program five years ago, turned the reigns over to daughter Beth Cunningham
this season.

"Today, it's great
to be able to experience this with my mom," said a teary-eyed
Cunningham, whose Maroons have won two regional titles. "She's a great
coach and a great mentor, a wonderful mother and a great friend."

Holland Christian
tallied 722.30 points to take the crown, followed by DeWitt (712.80), Allen Park (709), Mt.
Pleasant (707.90), Gibraltar Carlson
(691.80), Sparta (670.20), Portage Northern
(654.20), Mattawan (651.30), St. Clair (638.10) and Oxford (614.10).

Division 3

Chesaning won its fifth
state championship in Division 3 with a score of 727.60, followed by Chippewa
Hills (708.30), Grosse Ile (682.60) and Comstock Park
(681.30).

Grosse Ile coach Liz Kazik, in her 13th season, was happy with her team's
performance.

"I thought they
did a great job," said Kazik, whose Red Devils won it all in 2002. "Round three, we
just went out and decided to have a good time and we nailed everything."

"My seniors are
very proud. To have this as their final performance, they feel like they did
their best on all three rounds. They could have done better in round two, but
one and three they knew they did everything they could."

Rounding out the top 10
were Otsego, Gladstone, Wyoming
Park, Three Rivers,
Richmond and
Onsted.