Three cheers

OAA cheer
champions are in: Rochester, Clarkston and Lahser

By Sue Teggart

C & G Sports Writer

Photo
by Patricia O'Blenes

The Rochester High
competitive cheer team pumps up the crowd before a meet earlier in the
season. The Falcons claimed an OAA Red Division title at the Feb. 7
championship meet.

Since the
inception of the Oakland Activities Association 15 years ago, Rochester
High has rarely lost a competitive cheerleading competition.

And on Feb.
7 at the OAA cheer championships hosted by Troy High, the Falcons continued
their winning tradition. The varsity squad won the final competition and
earned enough points to also win the league crown in the OAA Red Division.

Rochester
— ranked No. 1 by the Michigan High School Cheerleading Coaches Feb.
9 rankings — scored 785.6504 points to take first place in the final
competition.

Following
the Falcons were No. 6-ranked Lake Orion High with 776.1952 points, Troy
High (750.3888), No-4 ranked Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (750.3888),
Rochester Adams (746.2880) and Troy Athens (741.1740).

Points
earned at he Feb. 7 competition were added to points accumulated throughout
the season to determine the overall final league standings.

In the OAA
Red, Rochester finished with 24
points, outscoring second-place Lake Orion by seven.

Troy finished the season in third place. Stoney Creek ended the season
fourth, Athens was fifth and
Adams, the two-time defending OAA Division II (OAA White Division) champion
before moving to the Red Division this year, came in sixth.

Clarkston
High edged North Farmington High to win the OAA White Division championship
meet, tallying 723.4688 points to the Raiders’ 679.6880. Following
the leaders were West Bloomfield High with
630.2720, Royal Oak (614.8560) and
Farmington High (592.6528).

Clarkston
also won the OAA White Division, topping North Farmington by one point. Royal Oak finished third
overall,  followed by West Bloomfield. Hazel Park and Farmington tied for
fifth.

In the Blue
Division, Lahser prevailed in the final meet and in the overall standings.

The Knights
collected 611.5872 points in the Blue Division championship meet. Berkley
High (579.9404) was second, followed by Ferndale High (566.4060),
Farmington Hills Harrison (496.6744) and Pontiac Northern (339.2872).

Lahser’s 20 points in the overall standings was four
better than Berkley, which finished
second. Ferndale and Harrison tied third and
Pontiac Northern came in fifth.

Fans can
catch their local squad in action next at the district tournament, which
gets under way Feb. 21. For more information, go to www.mhsaa.com and
follow the cheerleading prompts.