Gimme a W-I-N!

Alex Forrest

March 4, 2009

Kayla Johns,
Devon Santamour, Alex Thiel,
and Joyce Smith reach for the sky as they earn fourth place at the regional
competition.

The Varsity
Cheerleading team flipped their way into fourth place last Saturday, earning themselves a spot at the state competition.

"After third round we knew we had landed ourselves a spot," said
Captain Devon Santamour.

The girls traveled to Brighton High School to compete in the
Region 1-Division 1 competition.

The girl's started off strong in the first round, finishing in third place.

"Before round one, the upper classmen did a really good job of pumping
everyone up," added Santamour. "After we
had finished our first cheer, we knew the rest of the day would be
great."

At the conclusion of round two, the girls were still in third place with a
subtotal of 473.3744.

Round three wasn't quite as simple. All teams kicked it up a notch, putting
the competition in full gear.

The Lady Dragons were the first to compete their third round cheer, setting
the bar for the rest of the teams present.

Lake Orion finished the third
round with a score of 316.6 behind West Ottowa, 317.7, and
Grandville, 317.6.

The competition was so close judges had to refer to four decimal places in
order to distinguish the scores.

At the conclusion of the competition, the girls had dropped down to fourth
place with a total score of 789.9744.

The top-four teams will travel to the Delta Plex in
Grand Rapids this Saturday to
compete in the Division 1 state final.

Lake Orion will be up against
seven other Division 1 teams.

Grandville, East Kentwood, West Ottawa, Lake Orion, Rochester, Stoney Creek, Southgate Anderson
and Stevenson will all compete for the state title.

"Our coaches told us this was the best week of practice we've had our
entire season," said Santamour. "I think
if we practice just as hard this week, then we have a great chance of
placing."

Last year, the Dragons missed out on their chance at states by only a few
points at the regional competition.

This year, the MHSAA cut down the cheerleading regions from five to two.

Last year, the top two teams from each region journeyed to states, whereas
this year the top four make the cut.

According to Santamour, getting the team excited is
half the battle.

"This year we decorated the locker-room the week before the regional
competition. We used streamers and inspiring posters and did our best to get
the girls excited," Santamour said. "In
the bus on the way there, you could just tell everyone was happy and
ready."

The Dragons will compete in the state final on Saturday.