Sports

Varsity Competitive
Cheerleading Preview

Lake Orion competitive
cheerleaders return strong and experienced

Lisa
Valentine

The
LOHS varsity competitive cheerleaders.

January 05, 2005 - The Lake Orion varsity competitive cheerleading
team returns 17 members from last year's team, which finished fourth at the
regional competition and failed to qualify for the state finals.

The team hopes to change that this year, welcoming 16 new
faces to the varsity squad, and working since the end of the last season in
March.

"Last year we had a very young team," said head
coach Nancy DeAvila, who has a former Lake Orion varsity cheerleader, Nicole
Perryman, as her assistant this year.

"This year we are more experienced, and we finally
have the elusive back tuck we've been working on for three years."

DeAvila said the team now has enough
athletes able to perform that move so that they can include it in
competitions.

"Last year in our second round, we had six kids who
had never competed before," she said. "This year we only have one
freshman. Everyone else (performing in that round) has at least one year of
varsity competition."

Returning seniors for the team are team captains Calli Long, Rachel Suspeck
and Erica Ramstead; as well as Amy Gregory, Jessyca Singleton, Jessica Sutton, Brooke Reichert, and
Amy Pfister.

Also returning is junior Nicole Oakes.

DeAvila said her team this year has a lot of depth, and have taken
tumbling class every week since the last season ended.

"They never really had a break," she said.
"The tumbling coaches come (to LOHS), and that is for the kids up
through the middle (school) level.

"Competitive cheering has gotten to be a sport that
demands high gymnastic skills," she said.

Lake Orion's goal is to
return to the state finals this year, which will be held on March 12 at the
Delta Plex in Grand Rapids.

"Our biggest goal is to get back to that
level," DeAvila said. "We've increased
the number of competitions to continue improving week to week.

"We have no breaks in our schedule," she said.

Oxford has left Lake Orion's region this year, which will now consist
of Lake Orion,
Rochester, Stony Creek, Troy and Troy Athens.

"We have to finish in first or second to
advance," said DeAvila.

"The girls have great chemistry and strong
motivation after finishing in fourth last year.

"They want to get back to that tradition of
excellence we have here at Lake
Orion, especially the
seniors," she said.

DeAvila said past teams have had one great athlete, but not so this
season.

"Out of 33, only six are in all three rounds,"
she said. "Several are only in one.

"They are starting to specialize
a bit more. We don't have just one stand out."

Lisa has been a staff writer and sports editor for The Review
since June, 1999. A graduate of Oakland
University, she has won several
Michigan Press Association awards for writing and photography during her
career in Lake
Orion. She currently
resides in Oxford.