Serving Greenville,
Belding and Montcalm County,
Michigan since 1854.

Thursday,
January 04, 2005

Cheer teams focus on Wednesday meet

By John Raffel
- Daily News sports editor

STANTON -- Area competitive cheer teams will have plenty of questions
as they enter Wednesday's first meet of the season at Central
Montcalm.

After tomorrow's competition, they hope to have plenty of
answers.

Belding, Montabella and Tri County
will be among the teams taking part. Wednesday will mark the season debut for
all the area teams except Tri
County.

Action will begin at 6 p.m. in the Central
Montcalm gymnasium with the first round, which will require two
jumps, followed by the second round, which will focus on compulsory moves,
and the third round, which will include stunts and mounts.

"We feel good about all three rounds," said Central Montcalm
Coach Deb Comden, who hopes to use tomorrow's test to prepare for upcoming
meets, including the Central State Activities Association (CSAA) outing Jan.
26 and the regionals March 5. "We hope to be
at our peak by then."

She's optimistic about this year's group.

"We have seven seniors and we're a very tight group,"
the veteran Hornet skipper said.

Teams will compete in three divisions. Grand Rapids Christian
and Mount Pleasant are expected to be among
the contenders in Division I while Belding, Central Montcalm and Tri County
will take part in Division 2 and Breckenridge, Montabella and
Pewamo-Westphalia will be among the teams in Division 3.

Belding Coach Jeanne Brown has 10 letterwinners
back from last year.

"The majority of the team has cheered together for two or
more years," she said. "They work well together

"This group has cheered on varsity competitive (cheer)
since (their) freshman year, making this their third year," Brown said.

"They know the ropes and help the rest of the team."

Montabella only has three returnees this season -- Jamie Chubb,
Katie Ellsworth and Katelyn Stevens.

"They're returners who have taken
the initiative to teach the other girls," said Mustang Coach Andrea Coopshaw. "They provide excitement to the crowd,
team, parents and spectators."

Tri County is making its varsity debut in competitive cheer this season.

"We were in a meet on Dec. 29 at Kenowa Hills," Viking
Coach Jennifer Lasky said.

"For their first competition, we did very well."

"My hopes are the girls and I will realize what needs to be
done and we can build a strong program," she said.

"We're trying to take what we see from other successful
teams and emulate them. We want to be at our best by regionals
in March."