Grandville competitive cheer team on a hot
streak

Dean Holzwarth |
The Grand Rapids Press, January 18, 2009

HOLLAND -- After winning their own
invitational last Saturday, Grandville competitive cheer coach Julie
Smith-Boyd was wary of a letdown.

It didn't happen.

The Bulldogs continued
their torrid stretch with a victory at Saturday's West Ottawa Invitational.

It was Grandville's third
straight championship in the last 10 days.

"When you have your
own invitational, you get up for it and everything, so I kind of expected a
little bit of a letdown," Smith-Boyd said. "But I didn't really
feel like we had a letdown. They were really pumped to go out there and give
it their all. They were really motivated, especially after round 1."

The Bulldogs tallied a
three-round score of 785.152 in Division 1, and won by the narrowest of
margins. Jenison finished second a half-point
back, at 784.69. The host Panthers (769.56) were third,
and Rockford (764.60) was fourth.

The close call came after
Grandville was given an eight-point penalty for failing to complete one
back-tuck in its third-round cheer.

The Bulldogs scored 297.5
points in round three, but without the penalty, it would've been their
highest score of the season.

"That was the best
round 3 that we've done this year, but we had a back-tuck that didn't make it
all the way around," Smith-Boyd said. "We hit everything in that
round, but we just had that one back-tuck and it's going to cost you.
Otherwise, I was happy with how we did."

Grandville took a
commanding lead after the first two rounds. They scored a 234.7 in round 1,
and matched its season-high score in round 2 with a 252.952.

"Round 2 was
phenomenal," Grandville senior Brittany Lipkea
said. "We were so pumped and so excited to do it and overall I thought
it went amazing.

"Right now, we're
trying to do better for Grandville, and we're not thinking about state. We're
taking every competition one at a time and doing our individual best is the
most important thing."

The Wildcats finished
runner-up to Grandville for the second time this season. They were second at
the O-K Red Pre-Conference Tournament.

Jenison's best effort occurred in round 3
(309.5).

"We just try to make
sure that we're improving our own scores," said Jenison coach Wendy Kenney, whose team is
ranked No. 8 in Division 1.

"We try not to focus
on the other teams, and we're getting better every week. We improved in
rounds 1 and 2 today and that's been our focus. We want to improve in those
rounds and not just have a solid round 3."