Grandville stakes claims for top spot in cheer

Sunday,
January 09, 2005By Dean Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

GRANDVILLE -- You
couldn't tell by the latest Class A competitive cheer state rankings that
Grandville was last year's top Dawg.

In the recent rankings,
Grandville was picked second behind Rochester
despite entering the new season as the defending Class A state champs.

In fact, the Bulldogs
already won an invitational last month (CCAM) while Rochester hadn't competed in a competition
yet.

Although Grandville felt
slighted, it didn't prevent them from dominating Saturday's 12th annual
Grandville Invitational.

"I think everything
with the rankings just motivated us more," Grandville senior Amanda Ward
said. "We knew last season that we were No. 1 at the end and yet we were
ranked second last week and they haven't even competed yet.

"It just goes to
show that nothing is going to come easy and that we're going to have to work
for it to show everyone that we're No. 1."

Grandville wins again

The Bulldogs captured
their second straight title on their home mat in Class A Division 1 with a
three-round total of 734.

West Ottawa placed
runner-up with 700 points, while Jenison was
third with 692.

Grandville posted high
scores in each round, including an impressive 311.5 in a new and improved
third round routine.

"Today I thought we
look really good, but we still have to keep working," Grandville coach
Julie Smith-Boyd said. "I think even from last year we feel like we have
some things to prove. Not to everybody else, just ourselves
and so that's our theme this year, Prove It."

Grandville hosted one of
the largest fields in the state as 31 varsity teams competed in front of a
capacity crowd at Grandville
High School.

In other action, Caledonia was making his debut appearance under former
Grandville standout and first-year coach Heidi Snoap
and was crowned champions in Class A Division 2.

The Fighting Scots
tallied a 600.5 to slip past second place Mona Shores
(584).

"We didn't know what
to expect coming in here because there were a lot of really good teams
here," Snoap said. "We just wanted to
take what we had and make it look as sweet as we could and not worry about
the other teams.

"This is a big
moment for us and we're just ecstatic because we're trying to build a new
tradition here. This is a great way to start things off and hopefully this
will set the tone for the rest of the season."

Wyoming Park first in 2B

Class B also was
separated into two divisions with Gull
Lake winning Division 1B with a
total of 682.5 and Wyoming
Park claiming top honors
in 2B with a final tally of 643.5.

In Class C-D,
Climax-Scotts won with a final tally of 583, while Merrill took second.

© 2005 Grand Rapids Press.
Used with permission

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