Originally published March 4, 2008

Tri-fecta: Athens, Rochester, Stoney Creek
all headed for state

BY DAN STICKRADT

ECCENTRIC STAFF WRITER

Troy Athens has had a
rough season in terms of illnesses and injuries. The Red Hawks are healthy
now and have punched their ticket for the competitive cheer state finals.

Athens finished second at its own Division 1
regional Saturday night, collecting 761.840 total points. Sterling Heights
Stevenson was the regional champion at 769.793.

The top two teams from
each region advance to the state finals March. 7-8 at the Delta Plex in Grand
Rapids. The Division 1 competition will begin Friday
at 6 p.m.

“This is our
second straight trip and third in five years,” said Athens coach Stephanie Brodsky. “Last
year we were regional champs. But we were healthy last season. This year
I’ve never had so many kids out with illnesses or injuries. We were
ranked early in the season but fell out. We’re just now got our
starters back for each of our rounds. It’s making a huge
difference.”

Athens gained the second qualifying spot, by
edging Utica Ford II (758.770) by just over three points. Troy
was fourth (738.990) and Utica
fifth (718.567) in the 17-school field.

Athens’ 317.000 points in round III was
enough to vault the Red Hawks past Utica
Ford. Athens
also scored 221 points in the firth round and 223.840 in the second round.

For Troy, the
Colts posted scores of 212, 225.990 and 301.

In the final team standings, Royal
Oak claimed 134h (555.014) while Southfield-Lathrup
was 15th (551.627).

ROCHESTER
CLAIMES 15TH STRAIGHT REGIONAL

Since the MHSAA adopted competitive cheer as a sanctioned sport, Rochester has never
lost a regional. The Falcons’ 15th straight regional championship came
Saturday night on the mats of Lake
Orion High
School.

“We don’t talk about that, but I think the girls know what
we’ve done over the years,” said Rochester coach Susan Wood. “In 27
years, we’ve always made the state meet, even in all of those sideline
(cheerleading competition) years. They want to keep it going.”

Rochester
collected a three-round total of 799.096, which was nearly 19 points ahead of
its nearest competitor and easily topped the 16-school field. Rochester
Stoney Creek edged Lake
Orion (780.116 to
776.092) for the second and final qualifying spot for Friday’s Division
1 state finals. The top three teams in this regional have all logged plenty
of time in the top-10 this season, but only two will be heading for Grand Rapids.

“We still have three teams from our league going to the state finals,
including (Troy) Athens),” said Wood. “I
don’t think any other league in the state has three teams going.
That’s what really exciting.”

Rochester
posted scored of 231, 252.096 and 316, which led all rounds.

“I think our first and second rounds were a little better than they
have been,” added Wood. “I don’t think we’ve peaked
yet, either. We had a couple of weeks off (from competition) and we’ve
cheered a lot of boys and girls basketball games during the tournament, which
took away from practice time. I think we can do even better if we have a
really good day.”

Stoney Creek trailed Lake
Orion by a half of a
point after the first round (225.5 to 225) but rallied with a 246.116 and 309
to earn the second qualifying mark.

Rochester Adams was the only other area school at the regional, taking sixth
with 710.128 points. The Highlanders posted scores of 216, 209.128 and 285.

NORTHWEST FOURTH

Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest finished fourth at Saturday’s
Division 4 regional at Carrolton, just outside of Saginaw. Brown city (691.816) and Madison
Heights Bishop Foley (667.544) took the two qualifying sports for the D-4
finals, set for March 8. Northwest posted scored of 166, 146.293 and 237 to
finish ahead of our other schools.