Varsity Bobcats cheer to
second behind Gaylord

January 24, 2008

PRIORITIES Houghton
Lake High
School junior Rob Kunik lends his support to the Bobcat cheerleaders.
The Thursday night event in Roscommon happened to coincide with
semester finals. (CHP)

Houghton Lake varsity's 677.77 points was not enough to
place first in competitive cheer competition at Roscommon
High School Jan. 17, but the
Bobcats did earn second, behind Gaylord
High School, a
Division 2 school.

"We didn't hit the fundamentals that were completed perfectly last
week," Coach Celeste Kubiak said.

Houghton Lake was first after Round 1, with a
score of 215, topping the Blue Devils' 210.5 points. By the end of Round 2,
however, Gaylord had pulled ahead 203.796-189.270, to head into Round 3
with a 10-point lead.

In Round 3, the Bobcat flyers completed their stunts, but when the
routine called for all of them to perform scales, only two out of three hit
their marks. (A scale is performed on one leg atop three base girls, while
pulling the other leg behind the back in a curled position.)

Gaylord outscored Houghton
Lake 299-273.5 in
Round 3. The Blue Devils incorporated a complicated move in which a flyer,
held up by her bases on one foot was let down and pushed back up again.

ALL
LEGS Houghton Lake
varsity cheerleaders, Alexis Bechill (front)
and Jacqueline Hallauer, appear to meld
during their tumbling passes at the competitive cheer meet at Roscommon
Jan. 17. The Bobcats cheered to second place, behind Gaylord,
677.770-701.296. (CHP)

The Harrison Hornets rounded out the top three teams,
earning 611.390 points.

Roscommon High School did not perform in Round
3, due to an injury. Coach Vickie Alexander said a base was suffering from
a back spasm during practice before the meet, and did not perform in Round
2. The Bucks' final score was 240.34.

In JV action, Houghton
Lake bested Gaylord's
and Harrison's junior squads. The 'Cats earned 544.61 points in the JV
Division.

At Farwell Jan. 19, the Bobcats repeated their performances- the varsity
'Cats placed second to Gaylord and the JV squad placed first.

"Both teams did very well," Kubiak
said. "Varsity had a little trouble with timing in round one, but came
back with a strong, clean performance in round two."

At the end of Round 2 the varsity Bobcats held less than a onepoint lead over Gaylord,
and the Blue Devils came out strong in Round 3, performing almost
flawlessly. Houghton
Lake had a few minor
mistakes, which allowed Gaylord the first place win.

"We still finished with a score of 696 and that's a great
achievement," Kubiak said of the varsity
squad. Competitive Cheerleading - Jan. 19 at Farwell