Keener cheer
competition New coaches will be eager to overtake successful Brighton, Hartland programs

Friday,
November 30, 2007

BY
JASON DEEGAN

The Livingston Community News

The three new competitive cheer
coaches in the Kensington Valley Conference all have the same goal - trying
to keep up with Brighton and Hartland.

Coach Kim Klaus' Bulldogs and Paula
Cunningham's Eagles regularly compete at the state cheer finals, something
that new coaches Juli Brown of Howell, Jen Combest
of South Lyon and Julianne Kolke of Pinckney would love to accomplish.

Brown said it takes time to build a
program capable of advancing to states.

"Paula and Kim have been there
for many years,'' Brown said. "Howell's biggest
problem is longevity (of the coaches). We can be on the way to do that. They
girls have the drive and want to do that.''

Combest said her Lions have set a
goal of finishing among the top four at regionals.
The top two advance to states.

"I don't really compare (my
team) to other squads,'' she said. "I just try
to make the potential on my squad come through.''

Here's a look at the upcoming
season, which begins next week:

Brighton Bulldogs

Key cheerleaders: Meghan Waterman
(sr.), Rachael Rassel (sr.), Jillian Wilson (sr.).

Comment: Brighton
lost more than a dozen seniors from a team that was eighth in the state.
Klaus admits the road to the state finals is "going to be a tall hill to
climb.'' The Bulldogs have 10 seniors, 10 juniors and four sophomores.
"They work hard. They are an eager group,'' Klaus said.

Hartland Eagles

Key cheerleaders: Preeya Dalian (sr.), Becca
Harrison (sr.), Kaleigh Gordon (sr.), Kristen Smisek (sr.).

Comment: The Eagles graduated 16
girls from a team that was fifth in the state. Five freshmen and five seniors
make for an interesting mix on a team trying to win its fifth straight KVC
title. "Our main focus this year will be to really focus on performing
the rounds the way they should be performed,'' Cunningham said. "Being in the state finals two years in a row,
we've dropped stunts. It broke my heart. We nailed them all year.''

Howell Highlanders

Key cheerleaders: Christina Byrne
(sr.), Lauren Bullion (sr.), Bridget Meyers (sr.), Emily Hacker (sr.).

Comment: Brown, a Howell resident,
has coached at other schools, such as Walled Lake Western, Milford
and Lakeland,
and works for Champion Cheerleading, a youth instructional program. She'll
also bring a judge's perspective to practice. "Every coach should go to
judging classes to see what judges really look for,'' she said.

Pinckney Pirates

Key cheerleaders: Brittany Hewett
(sr.), Erika Hagguland (so.).

Comment: Kolke
coached many of the cheerleaders who grew up participating in the Hamburg
Pirate Youth Football Association. She lost some girls during the first two
weeks of the season the Pirates didn't have a coach, but she's happy with the
17 who stayed. "They have been working on their stunting and technique
and skill,'' she said.

South Lyon Lions

Comment: Combest, a former head
coach at Livonia Stevenson, said so far the transition to a new team has been
"perfect.'' Combest declined to name any athletes for publication,
saying all are equally important in her eyes. "As far as skills go, they
are progressing really well,'' she said.

Fowlerville Gladiators

Key cheerleaders: Amanda McCoy
(sr.), Kaleigh Reed (jr.),
Brittnay Bolling (jr.), Kayla Shoemaker (jr.), Emmalee Santioni (sr.).

Comment: The Gladiators return five
cheerleaders but are young with just two seniors. They hope to improve upon
last year's effort: third in the Capital Area Activities Conference's
division 3 and fifth at their Division 2 regional. "I tend to make (the
routine) harder each year,'' coach Cindy Champagne said.
"You've got to the raise that bar.''

Whitmore Lake Trojans

Key cheerleaders: Angelique Runkle, Jen VonVoigtlander,
Olivia Smig, Grace Jenkins.

Comment: The Trojans only have four
girls on the roster, just enough to field a team. Coach Tracy Mausolf said she's not worried. The last time the Trojans
had so few cheerleaders, they qualified for the Class C state finals several
years ago. "We are looking to get more back hand springs into our second
round (routine),'' she said.