Maroons place fifth at competitive cheer finals

Leo Martonosi | March 7, 2009

Grand Rapids, MI —

Holland
Christian’s competitive cheerleading team did not win a state
championship Saturday evening at the Delta Plex
like they did two years ago, but they still had an excellent season.

“To finish fifth (751.6400 points) is a huge accomplishment for this
team,” said Maroons co-coach Beth Cunningham about competing against so
many top teams. “To be one of 95 teams at state is an honor.”

Comstock Park claimed the Division
3 overall championship with a score of 781.1808. Grosse Ile was second
(758.2496) and Richmond third (755.5504).
Chippewa Hills came in one spot higher than Holland Christian with 751.8474
points.

“The third through sixth place scores were very close,”
Cunningham said.

Surprisingly the Maroons late draw did not hurt Holland Christian’s
chances of moving up in the standings.

“It really didn’t matter what position we were in,”
Cunningham said of competing seventh in Round 1, seventh in Round 2 and
participating eighth in Round 3. “You still have to go out there and
compete.”

Holland Christian was fifth after Round 1 with a 221.0000 score.

“We did very well against a very talented field,” Cunningham
said.

Chippewa Hills started strong with a 226.0000 norm. Ovid-Elsie was second at
225.7000 and Comstock Park third with 224.7000
points. Richmond held a slim fourth
place lead over Holland Christian with 221.5000 points.

“(Co-coach) Dar (Draisma) and I were very
happy with our performance,” Cunningham said.

The Maroons fell to sixth after Round 2 with an overall 442.2400 score.

“Our (small) numbers probably hurt us a little,” Cunningham said
of her team’s Round 2 221.2400 score.

Comstock Park moved into the state
lead with an impressive 244.3808 Round 2 score.

“They’re
just a very talented-deep team” Cunningham said.

Holland
Christian’s fans cheered loudly after the Maroons closed out the state
competition with a highlight Round 3 score of 309.4000.

“That
was a terrific score,” Drainsma said of her
team mustering the second-best Round 2 score of 309.4000.