Colon enjoys its best
state finish

Sunday,
March 09, 2008

BY DAVID DREW

GRAND
RAPIDS --
Colon sent
its competitive cheer team to the Delta Plex on
Saturday hoping to bring home a piece of history.

With a strong second
round, the Magi pulled within 30 points of second-place Hudson and needed a big performance in the
final round to take home a runner-up trophy.

And with the fans
screaming, ``This is our round,'' Colon
delivered a strong performance, earning 296.5 points to finish with 693.07.

But Hudson answered.

Performing right after the
Magi in the final round, the Tigers scored 300 points to secure their
second-place finish with 725.608 points.

``We were so close
today,'' Kim Wirgau, Colon's lone senior, said afterward, her
voice cracking with emotion.

``We just knew we had to
be perfect, but it feels pretty good because we've never been above (fifth
place).''

But while she was
satisfied with the top-three finish, she said it could've been better.

``It's depressing, too,
because we did everything so good and we didn't win it all. But I guess we
did what we could.''

Coach Jayne Sabaitis said she had one message for her team heading
into the third round.

``I told them to leave
everything out there,'' she said. ``We knew we were strong in round three and
I knew we could hit it, and that's what we did.''

Sabaitis said Wirgau
couldn't have been a better leader for her teammates throughout the season.

``She didn't have a lot
of people to help her out with leadership, but she really shined all the
time,'' Sabaitis said. ``She did great today and
kept the team focused, and let them know that being in the top three is not a
bad thing.''

Bloomingdale finished
10th in Division 4 to realize a dream their late coach, Randy Orr, envisioned
for them.

Orr died last year after
losing his battle with cancer, and new coach Shannon Butler said this season
was dedicated to him.

``It was an overwhelming
experience,'' Butler
said. ``It was his dream to get here and we made it.''

Division 2

Portage Northern struggled early and finished 10th in Division 2. After
amassing more than 700 points in regionals, the
Huskies finished with 679.367 at state.

But there were no tears,
even as the Huskies watched Gibraltar Carlson jump, hug and scream in
celebrating their one-point win over Allen
Park. Carlson's score was 777.280.

``There's
a lot of teams that didn't make it here,'' senior Emily Bainbridge said. ``I
think making it here is just a huge, great thing for our program.

``It's a really nice
thing for these girls. My wish today was just to get the new girls out and
give them an experience of what it's like so next year they can be top
five.''

Division 3

Chippewa Hills
overwhelmed the competition, holding a 20-point lead heading into the final
round and claiming the championship with 764.408 points. Otsego finished
ninth with 677.658 points.

Otsego scored 207.5
points in the first round to put itself in the thick of things. But according
to Otsego senior Lyndsey Banks, a few mistakes in
the second round cost the Bulldogs not only points, but a chance to bring
home their first competitive cheer title.

``Even with the people
who've been to state, there was a lot of pressure on us to do the best we
could and nerves just took over,'' she said after receiving hugs from
teammates. ``That never happens to us. We were hoping to stick with (Chippewa
Hills) but the mistakes made it hard to catch up.''