Originally published March
2, 2008

Eagles,
Bulldogs advance — Hartland wins fifth cheer regional title in a row -
with photo gallery

By Tim Robinson

DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS &
ARGUS

Hartland shows its winning form in the second round of Saturday's
three-round competitive cheer meet at Brighton.
The Eagles won the regional title..

Livingston
County cheer regional

BRIGHTON — Hartland competitive cheer coach Paula Cunningham
didn't feel her team was at its absolute best at Saturday's Division 1 cheer
region, but that was fine with her.

"You don't want
them to peak until next week," she said, referring to next Friday's
state meet in Grand Rapids.

Saturday, the Eagles
were more than good enough, adding a regional title to their Kensington
Valley Conference crown. Hartland topped second-place Brighton
by nearly 48 points, 799.812-751.418, for its fifth consecutive regional
title. Brighton also qualified for the state
meet for the fourth consecutive year.

"It never gets old," Cunningham
said, laughing. "Every time we go, we never want to take it for
granted."

As for Brighton, finishing second was very good indeed.

"The girls had a
great day today," Brighton coach Kim
Klaus said. "We had our highest score of the season."

The Eagles and
Bulldogs were 1-2 throughout the event, held at Brighton High School.
Hartland had a slim lead after the first round, 230-223.5, but added 26
points to the margin in the second round and 15.5 more in the third round.

"We go with 10
girls in the second round, and they have 16," Klaus said. "When you
have more girls, you get more points due to a multiplier. It gives them a
little edge, but they're also a very talented team."

To that end, Klaus
wasn't upset about finishing second at all, especially after the way her team
performed.

"We've been
regional champs multiple times," she said. "Right now, Hartland's
the stronger team."

With only four
seniors, the Eagles are a young team, too.

"I think we
performed really well," junior Sarah Parks said. "We can do better,
but we did really well today."

Meghan Waterman, one
of Brighton's all-region first-team
selections, was pleased with her team's performance, too.

"I felt we were
awesome," she said. "We're getting that feeling back when we do
something really good. For a while there we had a lack of confidence, but it
came back after the KVC meet. Now we know we support each other."

Both teams have four
days to prepare for the state meet, which will be held Friday at the Delta Plex in Grand
Rapids, although Cunningham admitted to a head start
on things.

"We started last
week," she said. "(This week) we'll put in more intensity in our
workouts and work on perfection in each round."

"We want three
solid rounds," Parks said, "so we'll need to be flawless."

Waterman, a four-year
varsity team member, says she gets more excited every year about the state
meet.

"The first year,
I didn't compete," she said. "My sophomore I was in two rounds and
in the last two years I've been in all three. It's going to be important to
us to not get overwhelmed when we walk into (the DeltaPlex) for the first
time. The seniors are going to have to help the younger girls to not be
nervous and keep them fired up."

Klaus believes her
team is finally jelling, which resulted in Saturday's success.

"They finally
figured it out," she said. "They finally learned how to work as a
team and compete as a team."

Waterford Mott
(709.544 points) took third, with South Lyon
(702.974) and Clarkston (681.690) rounding out the top five. Howell (625.110)
was 11th and Pinckney (598.548) was 14th.