East
Kentwood wins its own cheer invitational

Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Grand Rapids Press

By Dean Holzwarth

KENTWOOD -- An exuberant group of East Kentwood competitive cheerleaders sprinted
off the mat Saturday, joyfully hugging and jumping around after round three.

The Falcons captured top
honors for the third consecutive year in Division 1 of the Lake Michigan
Competitive Cheer Coaches Officials Association's Scholarship Invitational, a
tournament it hosted.

East Kentwood, No. 3 in Division 1, posted a
final score of 796.857 to beat out runner-up Jenison (780.657).

After posting impressive
scores in rounds 1 (231.5) and 2 (249.15), the Falcons finished with a final
round score of 316.2.

"Our third round was
great, and I told the girls they put an exclamation point on the day,"
Falcons coach Stacy Sheler said. "We haven't had three solid rounds yet,
so it was nice to have it end that way."

The association handed
out 10 scholarships after the meet.

Nine girls received
$1,000 and Catholic Central's Maggie Stein was given $1,500 as part of the
Randy Orr Scholarship.

Orr is a former East Kentwood coach who lost his battle with
cancer in 2007.

"It was a great
honor to receive a scholarship because there were a lot of great competitors
here," said East Kentwood senior Lauren White, who received a $1,000 award.
"It also was a really good honor to win today because there were a lot
of great teams here."

"We've been
practicing Round 3 very vigorously and it really paid off.

"We worked on being
intense and engaging the crowd more and I think our positive mindset really
helped us."

"Every week we go on
the mat we get better," Sheler said. "Our goal is to get better
each week. We had two meets this week, and both were just awesome."

Kenowa Hills also
produced an impressive final round to propel them to a Division 2 victory.

The Knights recorded a
311 in round 3.

"We had a really
great meet on Wednesday and they just came out wonderfully today,"
Kenowa Hills coach Brenda Looks said.

"With all of the
other school here, I told them to come out strong, and our Round 3 was
amazing."

In Division 3/4, Holland
Christian posted a 750.481 to edge out second-place Catholic Central
(729.108).