Originally published
February 17, 2008

Hartland
wins KVC cheer — Title is fifth in a row for Eagles; Brighton
second - with photo gallery

By Dan Strawser

DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS &
ARGUS

Hartland junior Katie Cummings, right, is congratulated by her aunt, Susan Zelinski of Garden City, after the Eagles won their
fifth KVC title in a row on Saturday.

Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS &
ARGUS

Cheerleaders from all eight KVC schools competing at Saturday's KVC meet
perform impromptu gymnastics as they await the judges' decision on
Saturday's competition.

Hartland competitive cheer

HARTLAND — "This year! This
team!"

That's the motto for
the Hartland varsity cheerleading team, which earned its fifth consecutive
Kensington Valley Conference title Saturday.

The Eagles, who went
undefeated (7-0) in the dual-meet portion of the season, earned 760.712
points on Saturday to finish first at the league meet and first overall.

"We were confident we'd do well and we
wanted to leave no doubt about being the KVC champs," Hartland senior
Devon Shallman said. "This feels good and now
it's a big confidence-booster for regionals and
states."

Brighton finished
third in duals behind Novi, but the Bulldogs
beat the Wildcats handily on Saturday to place second at the league meet and
pull into a tie with the Wildcats for second overall.

"Half the girls
were crying afterward because they were so excited," Brighton
coach Kim Klaus said. "The biggest thing was to come in and perform as a
team and we did that. Rather than have 12 individuals on the mat, they did it
as a team and it shows."

The Bulldogs earned
708.138 points Saturday, while Novi finished
with 658.79. South Lyon placed fourth (610.538), Milford
was fifth (561.94), Howell was sixth (548.98), Lakeland was seventh (521.53) and Pinckney
was eighth (471.365).

In the final overall
standings, South Lyon was fourth, followed by Milford,
Lakeland,
Howell and Pinckney.

"They were tough
officials, but it's giving the girls a better learning opportunity," Pinckney
coach Julianne Kolke said. "It's a learning
year. We're a baby team. I'm very pleased. We've been competing against
ourselves and our scores have been improving every week. They've achieved
their goal."

Pinckney sophomore
co-captain Kacie Ferguson was proud of her team's
efforts.

"We tried our
hardest," she said. "We all wanted to try and beat our last scores.
It was what we hoped for and we did well."

Howell senior Emily
Hacker, who was named to the all-league team, said her squad has struggled with
injuries and inexperience.

"Our last two
practices, we worked really hard," she said. "We came together a
lot and we really came together today."

Klaus said her team
had been struggling the last few competitions with
its final round, the stunt round, but that the girls came together and nailed
it on Saturday.

"It's the first
time we've been able to do that," said Brighton
senior Rachael Rassel, who was named to the
all-league team. "We've said we have before, but we all felt it this
time. ... Today, we stayed focused on each other. We didn't let anything get
to us. We had a team dinner (Friday night) and it really brought us together.
We felt like we had nothing to lose."

Brighton senior Meghan
Waterman believes the performance will help the team in the future.

"We really kicked
it out," said Waterman, who was also named all-league. "It's nice.
It really brought our confidence up which is something we've lacked. Going
into other competitions, we're like 'are we going to do this?' Today, we did
it as a team."

Hartland set a team
record with 243.712 points in its second-round performance.

"We're really
happy," said Hartland senior Preeya Dalian,
who was named all-league. "Our round-two score was the highest we've
gotten. That made us do even better in round
three."

The Eagles had the top
score in each of the three rounds, including the stunt round, where they
scored 299.5 points.

"Because it was
the last KVC meet, it made us want to go out and leave it all on the floor
with no regrets," Hartland senior Becca
Harrison said.

Hosting the meet made
it even more special for Hartland.

"Right before
round three, all of us got together because this was the last time we're all
going to be performing in this gym," said Hartland senior Kaleigh Gordon, who was named all-league. "We all
had butterflies in our stomachs. We were so excited, not to be done, but
because we knew we'd do so well. We were so confident."

Still, Hartland coach
Paula Cunningham wants her kids to keep their eyes on the bigger picture.

"I told them they
can celebrate today and tomorrow, but Monday it's back to work,"
Cunningham said.

Brighton's Chelsey
Stouder and Jill Wilson were named all-league and
Jordan Bickle and Gabrielle Green earned honorable
mention status.

Earning all-league
honors for Hartland were Kristen Smisek, Katie
Cummings and Cassie Diamond. Lydia Quella and Haley
Bourdeau were honorable mention.

Howell's Christina
Byrne and Lauren Bullion were given honorable mention accolades, along with
Pinckney's Arlene Streu and Gina Guerra.

Pinckney's Brittany
Hewitt was named all-league.