Small numbers, big potential for Colon cheer

Jon Schultz | Kalamazoo Gazette March 6, 2009

COLON — Colon competitive cheer captain Chante Harris admits she’s not the best at
verbalizing her thoughts at times.

After the Magi placed
second in regional competition for the first time in her four years on
varsity, the senior knew she needed to say something, and she knew she needed
to say it right.

So she wrote a letter,
and read it in practice to her deflated teammates in hopes of boosting them
before they make a run at the Division 4 state title on Saturday.

“I told them that
it was my last chance and I’m not trying to be mean,
but you guys have another chance,” Harris said. “And it’s
my last one, so I’d really like us to pull together and work hard for
the rest of the week.”

The third-ranked Magi
lost to Manistique by three points in the regional final. Some girls chalked
the loss up to Colon’s relatively small team
— the more cheerleaders who compete, the greater the multiplier for their
score. But the Magi had beaten the larger Manistique team earlier in the
season, and Harris didn’t want them to make any more excuses.

After all, Colon is a small squad compared to much of the competition they will face at the Grand
Rapids DeltaPlex.

“Most teams have 10
to 15 more girls than us,” Harris said.

But what it lacks in
numbers, it makes up for in experience. All but one of the nine girls on the
team are returning from last season, when the Magi
placed third in the state final.

“I think that we
have the most experience out of any team in the state, so I think
that’s one of our strong points,” Colon coach Jayne Sabaitis
said. “So I see this team right now as the best shot that Colon has ever had at a state title in
cheerleading.”

They’ve had their
shots, too, as this will be the Magi’s sixth consecutive appearance in
the state final.

Harris said she has a
hard time believing how far the team has come since she was a freshman.

“Oh goodness, a
long, long way,” she said. “When I first came here as a freshman,
I’m pretty sure I was one of the only ones who could do a back
walkover, and that was like the cool thing to do a walkover and now
it’s like if you don’t do a tuck you’re not cool.”

In simpler terms, she
said it’s like going from doing cartwheels to backflips.

Senior Rachel Green, also
a four-year varsity member, said the Magi enter the tournament with something
to prove.

“We have to prove
that because we are probably the smallest team going to state,” Green
said, “we still have the ability to do just as well as
everybody.”