Carlson cheerleaders rule state

last modified March 08.
2008 11:28PM

GRAND RAPIDS -
The Gibraltar Carlson competitive cheer team sat in a darkened motel room
Friday night, sharing a candle and trying to draw inspiration for Saturday's
state meet.

"We passed the candle around. Whoever was holding the candle spoke,''
said Carlson junior Delayna Herndon. "That
helped get us fired up.''

Carlson responded Saturday by winning the Division 2 state championship at
the Grand Rapids Deltaplex.

Carlson edged Allen Park,
the same team it finished second behind in last week's Regional.

"We took the lead after the first two rounds, but it was really close
(going into the third and last round). We performed first and had to wait for
them to finish. It was so close that we didn't know we had won until they
announced it,'' Herndon said.

The Marauders ended up winning by less than two points. They had 777.280 to Allen Park's 775.903.

"We were pretty confident going in, even though they had beaten us in
the Regional,'' Herndon said.

Carlson is coached by Danielle Jokela and Christina
Wilson. Both are youthful Carlson graduates. Jokela
is 22 and Wilson 24.

"We have 18 girls on the team and used all of them in at least one
round,'' Jokela said.

She is the older sister of Sara Jokela, who was
named to the All-State team after the meet. Herndon, Lainey
Williams, Samantha Martinez, Brittany Gaynier and
Rachel Sarkody also made the All-State list.

Carlson is the only Region school to win a state championship in
cheerleading. It also claimed the title in 1995 under the late Pat
Christiansen and finished second in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Carlson and Allen Park
led a strong showing by the Michigan Mega Conference Saturday. Southgate was fifth and Wyandotte sixth in Division 1.

Grosse Ile of the Huron League was third in Division 3 and Hudson of the Lenawee County Athletic
Association took fourth in Division 4.

Saturday's other champions were Grand Ledge in Division 1, Remus Chippewa Hills in Division 3 and Colon in Division 4.