Sunday,
January 20, 2008

Maroons
win own cheer invite

By
LEO MARTONOSI Senior Correspondent

Members of the Holland Christian
competitive cheer team compete during their own invite Saturday.

Dan Irving/The Holland Sentinel

Members of the Zeeland West
High School
competitive cheer team compete in round 2 of the Holland Christian
Competitive Cheer Invitational Saturday.

Dan
Irving/The Holland Sentinel

Members of the Zeeland East
High School

Dan Irving/The Holland Sentinel

Holland Christian competitive cheer coach Darlene Draisma admitted she had mixed emotions.

It wasn't easy for
the Maroons to win Division 2 of their own invitational Saturday.

"I'm a little
shocked and happy at the same time," Draisma
said. "This is a huge relief."

Holland Christian
rallied past Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills during the final round. The Maroons
finished with 727.542 points.

Kenowa Hills, which
led Holland Christian by one point heading after two rounds, ended up with a
runner-up score of 725.16 points.

"I'm so proud
of the girls," Draisma said. "They worked
real hard all week in practice, so I wasn't surprised by our best Round 3
score."

Holland Christian
senior Charlotte Oonk was a little.

"I think we
surprised ourselves," said Oonk, one of six
Maroons who competed in all three rounds. Miranda VandeBurg,
Sarah Rietema, Kelly Marsman,
Brittani Slenk and Katelyn VerHage
also did.

Zeeland East had a
score of 576.552 points in Division II.

Zeeland East coaches
Abby Lake and Amanda Childress were pleased
with their team's performances.

"We've have
really improved from last year," Lake
said. "Our main focus today was Round 2."

Childress knew at
the beginning of the season that the Chix were a
much stronger team than a year ago.

"We were only
four points shy of our best score from last year after our first
competition," Childress said. "That right there told us
something."

Zeeland West had a
winning Division 3 total of 637.264 points. The Dux were only the team to
compete after inclement weather stopped two others from arriving for the
competition.

Zeeland West coach
Jessica Brinks was delighted with her team's performance.

"We made a lot
of changes this week," Brinks said. "The girls did a great job. We
definitely exceeded our expectations."