East Kentwood
cheer comes in third at conference meet

by Jen Judson

Tuesday January 15,
2008, 3:33 PM

Karen Waite

East
Kentwood
cheer team members are in sync during their routine at the O-K Red
pre-season tournament last week.

HUDSONVILLE
- The competition heated up in the O-K Red competitive cheer conference, as
the teams met for a pre-conference get together on Wednesday night. While the
cheers and squad members flew fast and furious, the scores kept things
interesting.

In the end, Grandville
took the top honors with a total score of 778.292, followed by Jenison
758.570 in second, East Kentwood in third (757.190), Rockford
in fourth (744.484), West Ottawa (fifth,
744.330) and Hudsonville (sixth, 740.590).

Grandville is led by its
seven seniors: captains Jillayne Kurtz, Kedna Sall, Katelyn Oosterhouse, Brittany Blevins, Ashlee Forde, with
Natalie Kitsema and Rachel Kishman.
The Bulldogs scored first place in all three rounds with a 227 in the first
round, a 240.292 in the second and a 311 in the third.

"We
like to go for the wow factor in every round," said Grandville coach
Julie Smith-Boyd. "We were happy with our scores. They were close to our
scores Saturday, and we scored higher in round three. For our first weeknight
one it's a little different, but we came out strong."

Jenison came from behind after scoring
fifth in round one (217), then eked out a fourth-place round two score of
228.570. But the Wildcats scored big in the final round with a 313 top score
to finish in second place.

East
Kentwood
scored a second-place score (224.5) in round one, then had a 228.190 in round
two and finished the night with a score of 304.5. The Falcons are led by
seniors Taylor Mandella, Kate Haynes and Kaley Mallehan.

"We did really good in round one," said EK coach Stacey Sheler. "Our conference is so good, and it is
awesome for us to see this level of competition. It comes down to the wire
and could come down to anyone."

After struggling in the
early round with a fifth-place finish (215.5), Rockford's 234.984 bumped them up into
third going into the final round. In round three, the Rams scored a 294. Rockford relies on its
one senior Lizz Roelse to
lead the team in practice and on the floor.

"It's
nerve-wracking," said Rockford
coach Kathy Resseguie. "It's too close for comfort. It's exciting, and
this is what makes this conference as great as it is. This conference is
awesome; there's not a bad team in the bunch. Getting second in round two, in
this conference getting second in any round, we are very excited about
that."