Area
cheer teams compete at DeltaPlex tournament

Sue Barthold | Advance Newspapers, February 17, 2009

Members of the Grandville competitive cheer team
perform a routine during action at the PR Competitive Cheer competition at
the DeltaPlex. - (ADVANCE photos by TOM FIRME)

Members of the East Kentwood
competitive cheer team perform a routine during action at the PR
Competitive Cheer competition at the DeltaPlex.

GRAND
RAPIDS - Last Saturday, the DeltaPlex was buzzing with multiple
competitive cheer teams from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The PR Competitive Cheer
competition was divided into four divisions. In the first event, the Division
2 teams competed, with top-rated Mt Pleasant taking first place, and local
teams Cedar Springs and Sparta placing third and fifth,
respectively.

At noon the Division 3 and 4 teams took
the mat. The only local team came from Comstock Park, which won the Division 3
competition with 763 points as a tune-up for the state finals at the same
arena on March 7.

In the third competition,
the larger schools from Division 1 took the mats. Area teams included the
strong teams from the O-K Red: Grandville, Jenison, West Ottawa, Rockford and East Kentwood. These five teams are battling it
out for the O-K Red title, which will be decided on Wednesday at Rockford.

They will compete again
for the top-four spots at the district meet on Saturday at Rockford.

"It will be a tough
week in which anything can happen," said Grandville head coach Julie
Smith-Boyd.

In Division 1, East Kentwood came back from fourth place after
the first two rounds to finish second behind the No. 1 team in the state, Rochester, which had 804 points to Kentwood's 799. Other local teams
finishing in the top-six were West Ottawa in third with 797 points, Grandville with 793 and Jenison in sixth with 774 points.

"In this competition
every team had the degree of difficulty, and just one unstable move could
cost points," said Kentwood coach Stacy Sheler.
"We had a good first two rounds. The squad really stepped up to the
plate in the third round, where we were able to set a new school record with
324 points."

Jenison, which flew under the radar
during the first few rounds, finished in a strong sixth place. Senior Brandee Walton said that the squad pulled together in a
short time.

"One of our team
members got sick and we had to pull up an alternate at the last minute,"
said Walton. "And we only had Friday night to practice the routine. We
were able to do our best even though we were up against some of the best
teams in the state, and you never know; at any time someone could fall off a
mount or miss a stunt and we can be there."

Going into the
competition, Rochester and Grandville had been sharing
the top rankings in the state. On top of that, Kentwood, West Ottawa and Jenison can score well at any time.

Competitive cheer is
divided up into three rounds with each round having different specifications.
All teams in round one can choose from a list of skills, which has to include
three jumps. Jumps with higher skills and precision will score more points
from the judges.

East Kentwood took the mat first for the area
teams in round one. The Falcons performed all their jumps and movements in
unison, especially the split jump, as all 15 girls leaped high in the air
without a visible flaw. West Ottawa's girls also were successful, as they chanted that
this is their year.

Grandville's 16 competitors
performed with syncopated precision, moving from one trick to the next with
the utmost of precision and moving as if they were one. West Ottawa scored 231.3 points in round one,
with Rockford in second with 230.7. Grandville was running third with 227.4,
3.9 points out, and East Kentwood was fourth and 5.8 points behind.

With all the top teams
doing the harder skills such as having all 16 girls doing back round-offs,
back walk-overs and back flips and all landing at
the exact same time, it was difficult to determine the winner of round two. West Ottawa won round two with 252 points,
with East
Kentwood
moving up with a total of 249 points for second place and six points behind
the leader. Grandville moved up a position with 249 points, within 6.3 points
from the top. Rockford placed sixth in round two, and Jenison was in ninth for the local teams.

This set up round three,
in which anything can happen. Each team uses a lot of tumbling and flips to
impress the judges. When a team has the skill level that was on display
Saturday night, anything can happen.

With only a few weeks
left in the season it is a good time to peak, explained West Ottawa coach Kristine Brandt, whose team
turned in their best performance of the season.

"We hope this week
goes well and that we can continue to improve all rounds," said Brandt.