Wayland
Cheerleading

Jen Judson
| Advance Newspapers, February 17, 2009

As the two big I's (illness and injury) played havoc with the Wayland
competitive cheer team, the girls were able to pull together to capture
fourth place in their conference tournament last Saturday. The Wildcats ended
their conference season in fifth overall.

"I thought we would
have placed higher," said Wayland cheer coach Diane Martus.
"We had a lot of sickness. One would get healthy and another would get
sick, so it was one after the other. We also had injuries, so basically we
were moving kids in and out of the rounds all season. I'm very proud of the
girls for stepping up and sticking with it."

The Wildcats were led by
senior captains Karen Baweja, Jen Josey and junior captain Kylie Moore. Baweja
and senior Ariel Edsall helped the team maintain
consistency. Also representing the class of 2009 is Andrea Dykstra.

"We are a young team
with 13 on the team and four seniors graduating," said Martus.

With the four seniors,
the team is also made up of one freshman, two sophomores and six juniors. The
team scored a round one high score of 211.7, a round two of 192.1560 and a
round three of 291.7. Their overall best performance came at the Hastings
Invitational where the Wildcats scored a 673.45.

"Our theme this year
was unbreakable. No matter what (adversity) they faced, they didn't
break," said Martus. "They stuck
together. They are a great bunch of kids, and they did a great job of helping
each other fill in the spots."

The Wildcats will travel
to Mattawan for the district tournament on Saturday, February 21.