ROCHESTER'S CHEER FAMILY BUILDS LEGACY AS
STATE'S BEST

Top of the pyramid

By DAN STICKRADT

Staff Writer

John Stormzand
| Staff Photographer

"Let's go blue," cheers Rochester's Julia Musialowsk
after being lifted.

Musialowski

Veteran Rochester
head competitive cheer coach Sue Wood gives some tips during Tuesday's
practice. Wood's teams have won either MHSAA or MCCA state titles in 15
different seasons and since winning the 1989 MCCA state title, the Falcons
have not finished lower than third in state competition.

Rochester's Megan Ross is about to be
lifted up high during the Falcons' practice Tuesday. Rochester is the three-time defending
state champions in the MHSAA tournament and is seeking its 16th state title
this season.

Twice in the past five
years, Susan Wood has had to go to the funeral of a mom of one of her
cheerleaders.

Through all of the
gloom of those situations, she has witnessed something quite extensive: A
family.

Wood, the veteran
competitive cheer coach at Rochester High, said she has viewed a closeness
through 100s of athletes and their parents and families that's hard to
describe.

"Each time that
has happened, it's amazing not only to see all of the current cheerleaders
and their parents show up at the funeral home, but former athletes and even
their parents will stop by, showing their support," she said. "It's
really like a family."

It's that extended
family that has always created much to cheer about not only in the past five
years, but in the last 20-plus years. Rochester's
competitive cheer team has an extended and quite impressive resume since Wood
became coach in 1982.

The Falcons, currently
the top-ranked team in the Division 1 coaches/judges poll, have rarely
finished lower than third at any competition over the past two decades. In
fact, after finishing fifth at the 1988 Michigan Cheerleading Coaches
Association Class A state championships - before any of the current Falcons
were even born - Rochester has strung together 19 straight seasons of
top-three finishes at state finals. That's combining both the MCCA and the
MHSAA state finals competitions.

No athletics team from
any of the near-70 high schools that suit up teams throughout Oakland County, in any sport, can attest to
such a legacy.

BARELY

Susan Wood remembers
the first time the Falcons qualified for the state finals.

"We barely got
trough, I don't even know how," she said. "I think we were dead
last in (Class A). We must have been an at-large qualifier. Back then, it was
so different. It was only the MCCA state finals and nothing like it is today.
But we got better every year after making it the first time."

After the 1982-83 season, the Falcons quickly began to climb the latter.

At the 1985 MCCA state
meet, Rochester
grabbed it first banner for the gym wall, taking second. In 1987 they were
third and fifth in 1988. It wasn't until 1989 that Rochester first reached the top of the
charts, winning the Class A state title. A second banner was raised to the
rafters of the old gymnasium at Livernois and Walton.

Today, the gym wall of
a renovated athletics complex is simply littered with banners, many from the
sport of cheerleading.

"It's a lot of
hard work," said Erica Hamling. "We want
to keep it going. We have a lot to live up to."

Rochester, to be
exact, has won state championships in 15 different seasons, and from 1994 to
1996, won both the MCCA and MHSAA state titles when that was still allowed.
Beginning in 1997, schools had to choose between the two tournaments,
governed by separate bodies with different number of rounds, rules,
regulations and qualifying standards. Regardless of that fragmentation, Rochester has ruled the
roost on both sides.

Currently the Falcons
have won three straight Class A/Division 1 state titles and nine of the past
10 in the MHSAA tournament. In 2004, the Falcons finished a rare third, after
a third-round miscue.

Since the MHSAA began
sponsoring the sport, Rochester
has won 11 of 14 state titles, with a pair of runner-up finishes. They have
also won eight of the last nine state titles.

When the MHSAA and
MCCA merged their tournaments last season, Rochester was still the champion, reigning in a tournament double its size of the previous
season.

DEMANDING PERFECTION

While talented
athletes come in and out of the program each and every year, new faces step
into the limelight and help the Falcons keep their tradition very much alive.

Like clockwork,
athletes know what is expected of them, and there's rarely a moment of
discontent or bickering. If you want to cheer at Rochester, be prepared to go
above-and-beyond the call of duty.

"Practices are
pretty much routine," said Wood. "The girls know what to expect.
They learn from the older girls. The ones that don't kind of cut
themselves."

Mess up during a drill
or routine, the Falcons must step aside and go through routines twice more
until the problems are rectified.

"That's the way
we want it," said current senior co-captain Katelyn Cowling. "If
that's what it takes to be state champs."

Of course, while
success does often breed success, it also breeds pressure. Wood said she
tries to make each practice and competition fun for the team, and try not to
put too much pressure on them.

"It's kind of
unspoken, but I think each group of kids doesn't want to be the ones that
doesn't win a state championship or break the tradition," said Wood.
"It's hard to win every year, but we're always right there. I think the
parents and the school can put a lot of pressure on them. In some ways it
motivates us. We haven't finished lower than third place (at the state meet)
in so long. The girls have kept it going all of those years. They have earned
it, even it there is some pressure."

STRONG FOUNDATION

As a break from the rigourous training, camps and clinics, tumbling and
gymnastics-type workouts, Wood said that her athletes do need a break from
cheerleading.

Another tradition is
cross-training with other sports, as many of Wood's top athletes have also
stood out elsewhere - especially in cross-country, track and field and
soccer. In fact, it's commonplace that they become
all-state or even state champions in other sports.

"One of our girls
was one the state championship cross-country team this fall and some girls
were on our soccer team that was (state) runner-up in June," she said.
"We've had a lot of girls run track or cross-country. It's good for
them. I encourage it."

Right now, the Falcons
are busy putting together new routines, updating them, adding new twists and
skills and hoping to finish high on the pyramid again.

After sideline
cheering during a three-month football season - the Falcons also cheer at
some of the boys and girls basketball games during
the winter as well - it's the time of year to get serious.

The state regionals are less than three months away - the Falcons
have won 14 straight regional crowns - and a hopeful 27th straight trip to
the state finals awaits in early March.

"It's hard to
explain, but the girls are mentally tougher than a lot of the other teams out
there. I think that really helps us," said Wood. "Part of sports in
mental and we have that mental edge of what it takes to win."

The Falcons also have
one big family backing them.