Friday, February 22, 2008

Maroons wins
fifth straight league title

Competitive cheer

By
LEO MARTONOSI Senior Correspondent

Holland Christian
won its fifth consecutive conference competitive cheer title and third
straight O-K Green Conference championship at home Thursday night with a
three-round score of 701.199 points.

"I couldn't be
more proud," Holland Christian coach Darlene Draisma
said. "This was huge for us."

Draisma was concerned
coming into the O-K Green finals because of several injuries, including
senior Sarah Reitema's broken hand and senior
Charlotte Oonk's appendix problem.

"Both of those
girls were in three events, but this team has been able to overcome a lot of
adversity," Draisma said.

The Maroons finished
ahead of runner-up Muskegon
Mona Shores,
who totaled 686.304 points.

Miranda Van De Burg,
the lone healthy senior, was thrilled with Holland Christian's performance.

"This
definitely was a confidence booster," Van De Burg said. "We are
really pushing ourselves and would love to get back to state. The main thing
is to give it our best at all times."

Junior Brittani Slenk, junior Kelly Marsman,
junior Katelyn VerHage and sophomore Carah Hoitenga also competed in
three rounds for the Maroons.

Draisma had kind words for
freshman Amber Prins, who competed for the first
time.

"This was the
first time Amber has been on the floor all season," Draisma
said. "I'm not surprised with her performance because she works
hard."

The Maroons had
respective rounds of 217.500, 193.699 and 290.000.

Zeeland West coach
Jessica Brinks and Zeeland East coach Abby Lake
were happy with their teams' respective performances.

The Dux finished
fifth in conference with 642.720 points. The Chix
took sixth with 582.031 points.

"We've gotten
better and better since last year," Brinks said. "We've improved
our scores by 50 points, which is awesome."

"The girls gave
it everything they had," Lake said.
"I couldn't be more pleased."

Six Zeeland West
girls -- Meagan Joustra, a senior, Melissa Kamps, a senior, Megan Sprik, a
senior, Emily Hoeve, a junior and sophomores Kelsey
Brandsen and Shaelyn Oudemolen competed in all three rounds.

Three Zeeland East
girls particiapte in all three rounds -- junior
Ashley Bouwman, and sophomores, Dion Jachim, Ashley
Blauwkamp and Rachel Tamminga.