Cheer squads gear up for districts

Nick
Buckley • The Enquirer • February 18, 2009

Competitive cheerleaders will have
to make some extra noise to make it to the state finals this year.

That's because the Michigan High
School Athletic Association is asking teams to take another step in the quest
for a state title, adding a district round.

In its 15th season as a certified
MHSAA sport, competitive cheerleading usually begins the postseason as a
dozen or so schools compete in five regionals per
division, with the top two teams from each regional going on to the state
meet.

In the new format, districts will
feature anywhere from 12-16 schools, with the top four advancing to regionals. The top four teams from each region will
advance to the MHSAA state finals in March at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. So there will be eight schools
in each division that qualify for the state meet, down from 10 in recent
years.

Districts begin this Saturday,
followed by the regional round on Feb. 28.

"It's something that, as
coaches, we've been asking for a long time to make us similar to other
sports," said Colon head coach Jayne Sabaitis. "The way they formatted it, I don't know
that it's what we had in mind. But it does give it another level of
competition. And now it gives some teams that never had an opportunity to get
past regionals a chance to qualify"

Colon has made it to the state
finals in each of the past six seasons, with its best effort coming last year
with a third place finish in Division 4. The Magi are currently ranked No. 3
in the state. Should they advance past districts, they are in line to meet up
with defending Div. 4 champion Pewamo Westphalia in the regional.

"I feel with the competition out there, the region
will be tougher, but we should be able to make it to state," Sabaitis said. "It's still something we talk about
every day. We do want to take it one level at a time. Teams are gunning for
us so we need to make sure we respect teams out there."