Cheer
teams in top 10 — Missteps end state title hopes for Hartland, Brighton

Originally published March 11, 2007

By Dan Strawser

DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

GRAND RAPIDS — Winning a state title
requires near-perfect execution.

While the Brighton and Hartland cheer teams
performed well at the Division 1 state finals at the DeltaPlex in Grand
Rapids on Friday, a couple of miscues hurt both squads.

Hartland finished fifth
with 710.40 points and the Bulldogs were eighth (685.30).

The Eagles were in fourth after the first two
rounds, but had a pair of falls in the final round.

"Round three was
disappointing," Hartland coach Paula Cunningham said. "They've
performed that round without any falls the whole season. It was quite a
shocker. We were hoping to perform all three rounds to our full ability and
we would have been happy wherever we placed."

The Bulldogs had one
small mistake in round two as one of the girls didn't quite land correctly
after a flip.

"That hurt us, but
other than that we scored pretty good in that
round," said Brighton coach Kim Klaus.
"I'm OK with where we ended up. I wish it was better, but the girls did
a good job. Each round was a good round, maybe not our best, but they were
good rounds."

Rochester was
head-and-shoulders above the rest of the competition, earning the highest
scores in each of the three rounds en route to earning a third straight state
title with 750.10 points.

"They have a great
work ethic," Hartland senior Heather Holderness said. "They never
give up. The keep working hard and that's a good quality to have when you
want states."

Grandville came in
second (737.40) and Southgate Anderson was third (722.20).

Novi placed seventh
(691.60).

"It's such an
honor to have three (Kensington Valley Conference) schools here,"
Cunningham said. "It's nice to look over and see each other in the
warm-up room with you."

Holderness and fellow
senior Hanah Papp were upbeat about their team's
efforts.

"We went out and
gave it our all," Holderness said. "Mistakes happen. We couldn't
have wished for more. It's nice to stay in the top five in the state.

"Being among the
best in the state — there's no other feeling like it. When you arrive
here, you know you've done all you could."

Next to Rochester and perhaps
Grandville, Hartland had the largest and loudest group of fans.

"The crowd is so
important to us," said Papp. "It fires us up and keeps us going.
When we feel weak, we know the crowd is yelling for us and it gives us energy
to build on."

While the third round
may not have been the Eagles' best performance, Cunningham was particularly
pleased with round two.

"That was the best
we've ever done," she said. "It was as close to perfect as it's
ever going to get. I'm so proud."

The Eagles earned
213.90 points in the second round, the fourth-best score.

Simply competing at the
finals was a big step for the Bulldogs.

"This season we've
had things we've had to overcome," said Brighton
senior Ashley Dapra. "We stepped it up and
peaked today. We just went out there and gave it our best. We were just happy
we made it here. We were a little worried we wouldn't."

Brighton sophomore Liz Harzdorf is one of the many underclassmen on the cheer
team and was competing at the finals for the first time.

"It was
amazing," she said. "When I saw the fans I was excited more than
nervous. It was the best experience of my life. This is definitely going to
push us to be a better team next year, emotionally and physically."