Michigan Center fourth again

Sunday,
March 09, 2008

By
Jason Barczy

[email-masked]
-- 789-1250

GRAND
RAPIDS --
For the third year in a row, the Michigan
Center High
School competitive cheer team placed fourth in
the Division 4 state championship.

The Cardinals' final
score of 679.464 Saturday just edged out Iron
Mountain's 678.899 for fourth place
and was 14 points behind third-place Colon.

Pewamo-Westphalia won the
title ahead of Hudson, which Michigan Center
beat in the regional championship.

``I
think we've had an outstanding season that just fell a little short
(Saturday),'' Michigan
Center coach Jessica Trefry said.

``We'll come back strong
next year and give it another shot.''

Michigan Center
entered the second round in third place just two points behind Hudson, but the Cardinals were penalized eight points
for incorrect performance of a skill and trailed Colon by a point entering the third.

One of the girls
accidentally let her hands slip while doing the splits and her hands touched
the mat, an error that hadn't occurred all year, according to Trefry.

``Round 2 is what hurt
us,'' Trefry said. ``Our round 1 was great. Round 2
we fell short, and that was our one weakness. It takes three great rounds to
win this, and we only had two.''

After the second round, the
Cardinals seemed to know they weren't going to be able to take first place
and supported friendly rival Hudson in its efforts to beat Pewamo-Westphalia.

The girls formed a tunnel
for Hudson to walk through on its way to the
mat for the Tigers' third-round performance, in which Hudson scored a perfect 300.

``(Hudson) has always been a team that we've looked up
to,'' Michigan Center junior Rachel Miller said.
``They're someone we've wanted to be like, and we're close friends as well.''

Nine seniors will be
saying good-bye to the Cardinals, but nine others will be returning along
with seven juniors, including all-Cascades Conference and all-regional pick
Miller.

``I'm going to miss those
girls like crazy,'' junior Lauryn Silva said.
``They're like family to me.''

With a sixth consecutive
trip to the state finals for Michigan
Center and a first
regional championship, Trefry ranked this as her
best season yet.

``I can't ask for a
better group to work with,'' Trefry said.