Cheerleading teams take center stage

By Steve
Foley News-Review Sports Writer

Friday, December 21, 2007 11:19 AM EST

BOYNE CITY — Competing in and hosting their first
competition of the 2007-08 season, the Boyne City competitive cheer team got
things off to a strong start Thursday.

The Ramblers, a team comprised of seven members strong, took first place in
Thursday’s six-team competition, finishing with a three-round score of
314.665 points.

Fellow Lake Michigan Conference opponent East Jordan
was second with 309.19 points, while Charlevoix was third with 303.45 points.

Grayling ended up in fourth place with 297.445 points, followed by Elk
Rapids, 248.715; and Central
Lake, 104.

“I thought all the teams did wonderful being that it’s still
December and it’s still early in the season,” Boyne City
coach Jill Towne-Patton said. “For the first competition of the season,
I was very pleased with our team and our performance.

“We have a couple of new girls that have never cheered before, so
watching them do this was great.”

Thursday’s competition was the first for all but one team, as
Charlevoix competed in a competition last weekend in Mount Pleasant.

All six teams were scored and judged in three rounds as sanctioned by the
Michigan High School Athletic Association. The number of judges varies from
competition to competition. On Thursday at Boyne,
it was a four-person panel.

The first round, or required round, is based upon floor mobility, vocals, jumps,
team coordination, execution, difficulty, variety and general impression.

“We’re scored on two jumps and the whole team has to do two
different jumps in unison,” Towne-Patton said. “The judges are
also looking at how effective they are and the ‘wow’ factor ...
did you get goose bumps watching?”

In the second round, or compulsory round, teams are judged on flexibility,
jumping and tumbling. Also in this round, each team’s first 10
movements must be the same.

The third round, or open round, allows teams to put in more degrees of
difficulty and teams perform more tumbling and gymnastic skills, stunts,
flairs, jumps and transitions.

“The more difficulty you add in round three, the higher scores
you’ll get,” Towne-Patton said. “We have two really good tumblers
on our team, so that played into our advantage and was a
strength.”

The Ramblers, comprised of Christine Oslin, Jessica
Dunlop, Courtney Leazier, Katlyn
Davis, Ellie McFalls, Tiffany Poirier and Kaci Trixler, jumped out to an
early lead as they registered the highest score, 111.5, after round one.

“We had good team unison right away,” Towne-Patton said. “I
was just looking for our team as a whole to be in unison. We didn’t
want to fall on any of our stunts, we look for
safety in our stunting.”

East Jordan, comprised of Taya
Karki, Courtney Jackson, Danielle Tompkins, Olivia Mathers, Danielle Rathburn,
Shelby Cambell, Andrea Symonds, Brandy Bartlett and
Christine Murphy, showed consistency in all three rounds en route to its
second place finish.

“We did a good job,” East Jordan
coach Glenda Clark said. “We just wanted to really keep the moves
precise and every competition, we want to get better and improve.”

Clark said her team got off to a slow start
this season, as she took over the team late in the early practice season.

“As far as where everybody else is, we’re a little late,” Clark said. “I thought we looked good though, we
got our jumps down and considering we put this all together in three weeks,
it was nice.”

Charlevoix, the largest team in the competition comprised of Hallie Bills, Molly Braniecki,
Caitlin Bryant, Kelsey DeCoster, Pauline Hickok,
Sarah Klooster, Ashley Marsh, Amelia Meier,
Stephanie Milazzo and Rachael Rachael
Nuttall, had the highest team score in the final
round as they accumulated 136.5 points.

“We were really strong in round one, but we have some work to do in
round two,” Charlevoix coach Erin Nickel said. “We came together
really well in round three and we have a great team.

“I have the coolest team ever. Of the 11 girls, five of them are
returning from last season and it ranges from freshmen to seniors.”

Nickel said she was impressed with all the teams
routines, including those in the Lake Michigan Conference.

“The teams are much more advanced than last season,” she said.
“Everybody has their material and their skills down already, but we
know we still have some work to do.

“I thought it went really well,” added Nickel. “I thought
it went really well and it’s going to be a good conference race this
year. It should be really interesting come February.”

To qualify for the regional, teams must compete in a minimum of four
competitions. Boyne City, Charlevoix and East
Jordan will all compete in the Division IV regional March 1 in Manstique.