Comstock
Park competitive cheer team beats out reigning state champions

Kelly Hill, The Grand Rapids
Press, February 14, 2009

GRAND RAPIDS -- Even at less than its best,
the Comstock Park competitive cheer team was better
than the rest of the Division 3 competition Saturday afternoon at DeltaPlex.

The Panthers did not perform their second-round cheer to
their usual standards but won the PR Cheer meet, topping reigning state
champion Chippewa Hills.

Comstock Park, which is the reigning Division 3
state runner-up, won the Division 3 title with a score of 763.0376. Chippewa
Hills finished second with 738.9310 points.

The Panthers are the No. 1-ranked Division 3 team in the
state.

"It's very exciting," Comstock Park coach Kathy Felty
said. "Today, our strengths were Round 1 and Round 3. All year, it had
been Round Two, but not today.

"It was an awesome day. We are going to see most of these
teams at the state finals, so this is an exciting way to go into the rest of
the season."

Comstock Park had a Round One score of 223.9, a
Round Two score of 229.0376 and a Round Three score of 310.1. The Panthers
had the highest score in all three rounds.

"Round Two was not bad today, but One and Three were
our standout rounds today," Felty said.
"Our stunt round, Round Three, is very creative. It's fun and exciting.
We have 16 tucks. Teams have tucks, but not 16."

Six top-10 Division 3 teams competed. The Panthers are
ranked No. 1, Richmond, which finished third, is No. 2
and Chippewa Hills is No. 3. Grosse Ile is ranked No. 7, Kingsford is No. 8
and Notre Dame is ranked No. 10.

"We threw more into Round One than ever before,"
Comstock Park senior Brittni
May said. "Round One was one of our best today.
All of our hard work paid of."

Comstock Park was the only team to score more
than 300 points in Round Three.

"Round Three is the round we have the most fun
with," Panthers senior Morgan Andree said. "That closed out the
show. We wanted to give everyone a good last impression."

Cedar Springs finished third in Pool 2 action of the
Division 2 meet and Sparta finished fifth. The Red Hawks
scored a 728.345 and the Spartans posted a 701.9152.