Originally published March 7, 2008

Saints hope
to pull surprise in state finals

By MATT SCHOCH

Times Herald

With state-finals
experience under their belts, the returning athletes on the St. Clair
competitive cheer team should be better prepared for their biggest weekend of
the year, coach Amanda Lipke said.

However, since just
five of the 19 Saints were on last season's team, performing Saturday at the
Delta Plex in Grand
Rapids still will be a challenge.

"The difference
between (states) and other competitions is it's a much bigger venue," Lipke said. "That'll be a little bit of an
adjustment."

The Saints are competing for the second straight
year in the Division 2 state finals. Also locally, Richmond
is competing in Division 3, while Brown
City is in Division 4.

St. Clair won its
first regional title since 2002 on Saturday after winning its second straight
Macomb Area Conference White Division title last month.

"We're expected
to get around eighth place, but they also said we wouldn't get first place in
regionals," senior Sam Faucher
said. "I'm hoping to prove them wrong."

Lipke said the team's
stunts for round three are more advanced than last season, although the team
is not doing back tucks in round two like it did last year.

"Our gymnastics
have improved this year, as well as our stunting ability," Lipke said. "We haven't won as many competitions
this year, but our scores are as comparable to other teams.

"We're going in
this year knowing that we can compare to other teams, and we're going in with
more confidence."

Faucher said the team, which
qualified for academic all-state honorable mention, is best at round three.
But the Saints might be most comfortable with the first round, which focuses
on jumps.

"Personally, I
get more nervous for the last (round)," Faucher
said. "But we've been really strong with that one throughout the year,
and that'll help us out."

Faucher has been impressed
with the team's freshmen.

"They've made a
great transition and have been good assets for us," she said.
"They've stepped up way more than anyone on the team expected. They know
their place and know how hard they have to work."

Richmond was ninth in the Division 3 state
competition last season. The Blue Devils were edged by Grosse Ile in regionals.

Brown City won its Division 4 regional this
season, but did not qualify for states last year.