East Kentwood
captures regional cheer title

by Nick Paulucci

Tuesday March 04, 2008,
10:24 AM

Tom Firme

The East Kentwood competitive cheer team performs a routine durin
gaction at the Division 1 regional meet.

KENTWOOD--One
week after falling to the Bulldogs in the O-K Red Conference finals, the East
Kentwood Falcons turned the tables on Grandville to take the Division I
regional.

The
Falcons saved their best performance for when it counted, scoring a
season-high 796.496 on Saturday. They had the highest score of any team in
two of the three rounds, including a tally of 323.5 in the final round. The
Bulldogs were next with 791.204, followed by Rockford
and Jenison.

"All
year long we've been practicing to have a perfect round all three rounds, and
today we did," said East Kentwood coach
Stacy Sheler. "We've put together two good rounds before, but today the
girls put it all together."

It was
the second regional title in the last three seasons for East
Kentwood, which is currently ranked second in the state in
Division 1. The win was no easy task as five of the top 10 teams in Division
1 competed in Saturday at East Kentwood.

"We
didn't worry about the other teams here, we just made it about us and focused
on putting three good rounds together," said Sheler.

Sheler
credits her assistants, Stephanie Stevenson and Netti Rogers, for the success
of the Falcons, along with her seniors. The talented Falcons team has seven
seniors who set the tone. Bianca Martin, Taylor Mandella, Lynzi Zuk, Arreyl
Carpenter, Kate Haynes, Kahley Mallehan, and Kelsie Clark provide the team's
leadership.

"I
can't even explain it, this is so incredible," said Mandella. "This
is the first time this season where we put three solid rounds together. This
was our best performance, by far."

The
Falcons advance to this week's state finals on Friday at the DeltaPlex. They
will try to take home the state championship against top-ranked Rochester
Hills, along with a talented field of 10 teams.

"This
was our best performance, but we're going to try to top it next week and come
out and do our best," said Mandella.

The
second-place Bulldogs advance on to the state finals as well, and will be
making their 15th consecutive appearance in the state finals. They've made
the finals every year since the state started holding the competition in
1994.

"It's
good that we're going to state because it's a whole new competition when you
get there," said Grandville coach Julie Smith-Boyd. "You get another
week of practice and you can work on the things that didn't go so well. We've
been in this position before and we know we can still compete."

Grandville
advanced despite a solid day from the Rockford Rams, who pushed the Bulldogs
to the end finished in third place by only seven points.

"This
is the closest our region has ever been, and I told our girls that whoever
has the best day is going to state, said Smith-Boyd. "I think that it
brought out the best in everybody because you know it might be your last time
to compete."