Spirited
— County cheer teams young this season

By Dan Strawser

DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Photo by MARK A. DULL

Members of the Pinckney cheer team perform during a basketball game last
week. Forming the base are, from left to right,
Jessica Davis, Arlene Streu and Brittany Hewett.
Gina Guerra is the flyer. The Pirates have a new coach and a lot of new
members on the school's competitive cheer team this winter. ourtesy photo The Grand Haven
competitive cheer squad.

There's
an influx of youth when it comes to Livingston County
competitive cheer teams this season.

Two new
coaches make up for some of that inexperience, though, as they both have
extensive cheerleading backgrounds.

Hartland, Brighton and Pinckney have mostly new girls this year,
while Howell and Fowlerville have more experience returning.

Juli Brown has returned to coaching after a few years
off to coach the Howell cheer team and Julianne Kolke
has taken over the Pinckney squad.

Brown is the
office manager at Champion Cheerleading in Howell, which holds summer camps
that most of the teams in the area attend. It is one of the biggest programs
in the state.

She has also
been an official for competitive and sideline cheering for the last six years
and coached in the area for 15 years.

"I
coached at Lakeland, Walled Lake Central,
Walled Lake Western and Milford,"
Brown said. "I graduated from Lakeland
and my husband is from Milford.
... I had been off for about four years. I have kids and they're older now,
so I decided to give it another try."

Kolke has been involved with the Hamburg Pirate Youth Football
Association's cheer and pom program for five years
and was commissioner the last three years.

"My
commission expired and I decided to move up to the high school," said Kolke, who grew up in Livonia and didn't cheer in her youth.
"I was in the band. I always tease the girls, 'I was a band geek.'"

HARTLAND

The Eagles
graduated 16 girls from a team that finished first in the Kensington Valley
Conference and fifth at the state finals for the second year in a row.

"I
pretty much have a new team," Hartland coach Paula Cunningham said.
"They're young, but they're definitely strong and talented."

Still, the
Eagles are ranked 9th in the latest Division 1 coaches poll.

Hartland has
five seniors, all of whom are doing "an excellent job leading the
team," Cunningham said.

The seniors
include Kaleigh Gordon, Becca
Harrison, Preeya Dahlian,
Kristen Smiskek and Devon Shallman.

Cunningham is
expecting strong contributions from a group of four juniors: Katie Cummings,
Jesse Pierney, Cassie Diamond and Lydia Quella.

"I've
had to coach a little more," Cunningham joked. "Last season I
pretty much just had to show up and they knew what to expect."

The Eagles
are aiming for another KVC title and Cunningham is hoping to improve on last
year's finish at the state competition.

"We're
hoping to bring it up from last year," she said. "A little higher
than fifth place. That would be great."

BRIGHTON

The Bulldogs
lost most of last year's squad to graduation.

"Over
half the team is new," Brighton coach
Kim Klaus said. "I have so many new kids and this is their first time
doing varsity competitive cheer. I have to remind myself to go over every
little thing. We have to review just a little bit more."

Brighton was third in the KVC last year and eighth at
the state finals. Novi finished second in
the league and seventh at states.

"I'm
hoping that we do well," Klaus said. "We've got a lot of work to
do, but I'm hoping the girls pull it out."

Senior Meghan
Waterman has been on the team for four years and is joined by Jill Wilson and
Rachel Rassel, who've been on varsity for two
seasons.

Senior Chelsey Stouder missed last
year with an injury, but was on the team as a sophomore.

Brighton's team has 24 girls — 10 seniors, 10
juniors and four sophomores.

PINCKNEY

The majority
of the Pirates have little or no experience, Kolke
said.

"We're
all learning together, which is a good thing," she said. "These
underclassmen will move ahead and be at a better advantage. It's a learning
year. We're building a new team."

Kolke said she's spending a lot of time working on endurance
and strength drills to get the girls properly conditioned.

Senior
Brittany Hewett and junior Erika Hagglund are the
head captains. Sophomores Aubry Dowdy and Kacie Ferguson are co-captains.

"Hartland
and Brighton are the teams to beat," Kolke said. "While we'd like to be up there, we know
it's going to take hard work. ... We're gaining a little bit at a time. I've
seen improvement at each meet as far as scoring goes.

"They
know it takes determination and drive and they've got that. I'm hoping to be
sleeper team and pull it off at end of the year."

Kolke said freshmen Sarah Melnik, Alysia Lomber, Jessica Gilligan
and Katie Kirkpatrick have all been working particularly hard.

HOWELL

The
Highlanders have 14 girls on the squad and only four of them didn't cheer
last season.

Brown is
expecting solid contributions from Christina Byrne, Lauren Bullion, Bridgette
Meyers, Emily Hacker, Chelsea Schmidt and Sami Heinrich.

"Basically
our aim is to improve on our scores in each competition," Brown said.
"I'd like to place as high as we can (in the KVC), but I think we'll be
somewhere in the middle."

Brown said
the team is battling injuries right now, but that the girls are working hard
and making progress.

FOWLERVILLE

The Gladiators
are competing in the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Division for the
first time. The team was third in the CAAC Division III last year behind
DeWitt and Lakewood,
who both moved into the Gold Division as well.

The CAAC is
set up differently for cheer than for other sports, due to fewer schools
offering cheer in the league. Charlotte, Portland, Lansing
Catholic, Eaton Rapids and Haslett also are in the CAAC Gold.

"To be
right there in the top three again is our goal," Fowlerville coach Cindy
Champagne said.

Seniors
Amanda McCoy and Emmalee Santonini
lead a group of five returning athletes that also includes juniors Brittany Bolling, Kaleigh Reed and Kayla
Schoemaker.

The Glads have 11 girls on their roster.

"It's a
small team, but they're doing very well," Champagne said. "The team is starting
out stronger than my team last year, at this point in the season, so I'm
excited for them."