PUBLISHED: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

SC cheer team ninth at
state meet

Mike Kamyszek

Voice Sports Reporter

The St. Clair varsity competitive cheer
team picked a good time to start winning competitions.

The Saints, under second-year head coach Amanda Lipke, had plenty of second and third place finishes
during the regular season, but had yet to finish at the top of the pack in
any competition. That was until the Macomb Area Conference White Division meet in February and then the March 1 Division II regional
competition at Lake
Orion High
School.

"It took some time at the beginning of the season to get
the girls adjusted to competitions and working on basic skill," Lipke said. "It was great that we were able to peak
at the end of the season."

St. Clair finished atop the 14-team regional field to capture a
championship for the second consecutive season. The Saints finished with
736.8 points to edge second place Ortonville-Brandon, which finished with
717.9 points. Lipke's team also nabbed its second
straight conference title with a narrow five-point win over Utica.

"The girls performed very well at the regional and two
weeks prior won the MAC meet, which gave the girls a little bit more
confidence," Lipke said. "Last year we
won more competitions, but we had a lot younger team this season."

The girls competed last Saturday at the state meet in Grand Rapids. The
finished ninth out of 10 teams for the second straight year, with 698.020
points, 19 ahead of 10th place Portage Northern and four points behind eighth
place St. Joseph.

St. Clair got off to a solid start, finishing sixth out of 10
teams in the first round. The Saints were in eighth place after round two
before slipping to ninth after the third and final round.

"I think nerves played a part in it because of our young
kids, but our first two rounds were pretty clean," Lipke
said. "We had a fall in round three that cost us; it was just a fluke
thing that happened."

Lipke will have plenty of talent and
leadership coming back next year with the departure of just five seniors.
Moving on will be Jessica Brown, Samantha Faucher,
Chelsea Stefanides, Amanda Stuben
and Sophia Stilwell. That leaves 14 girls returning with varsity experience.

"We didn't have captains this year, so our seniors were our
leaders and they were great in their leadership roles," Lipke said. "We had a very hard working and
determined team this year which was very nice to work with. The young girls
we had this year will be assets to building a stronger program in the next
couple years."