Thursday, January 13, 2005

Competitive
cheer programs on the rise

By Dan Stickradt

Staff Writer

Michigan was all alone when it
became the first state to officially sponsor a state tournament for girls
competitive cheerleading during the 2003-04 school year. Today, the sport
continues to grow in popularity and participation.

This year, a record number 162 programs will compete in the
MHSAA-sponsored tournament, which is up by more than 30 schools from last year,
the largest growth spurt in several years.

Teams will
compete in the regional competition Feb. 28, while the state finals in all
three classes will be held March 5 at the Deltaplex in Grand Rapids. The top two
teams from each regional advance to the state finals.

"It's
great for the sport," Oxford
coach Kristy Gibson-Marshall said. "It's the only newer sport under Title
IX where they didn't take away a boys sport to make it even. It's something
that has started very small and has grown over the past decade. And it's going
to get bigger."

Competitive
cheer was second in attendance for female sports during the 2003-04 school year, according to the MHSAA, trailing only girls
basketball.

"That's
amazing considering that there's (less than 200) schools that are
competitive," Lake
Orion coach Nancy DeAvila said. "True, there are more kids competing on
(cheer) teams compared to a sport like volleyball, which will have 12 or 13
girls on a team. There are a lot of cheer teams that will carry 25, 30, even
more than 30 girls on a team. And that means there will be more parents and
fans. But there are hundreds more volleyball teams."

As compared
to the Michigan Cheeleading Coaches
Association-sponsored tournaments, which have existed since the mid-1970s, the
MHSAA tournament features three rounds instead of two, with much more difficult
acrobatics and gymnastics stunts.

A total of
nine Observer & Eccentric-area schools sponsor competitive cheer this
season - Farmington, Bloomfield Hills Lahser, Lake Orion, Oxford, Rochester,
Rochester Stoney Creek, Troy, Troy Athens and West Bloomfield. The remaining area schools compete in
the lower-profile MCCA tournaments or don't compete at all.

"I think there are so many holdouts because there are handful of teams that dominate this sports," DeAvila said. "I know some schools out there don't
want to lose to a team like Rochester
because they are very good every year. How many football teams say they don't
want to compete because they are not very good? If there is a really good team
out there like Rochester
or Grandville raising the bar, that should make the rest of us work harder."

NORTH OAKLAND - COMPETITIVE CHEER
TEAM CAPSULES

SCHOOL: Lake
Orion

HEAD COACH:
Nancy DeAvila, fourth season.

LEAGUE MEET
FINISH: Third at OAA I meet.

REGIONAL MEET
FINISH: Fourth at Class A regional

OTHER
FINISHES: Third at Oxford Invitational; second at DeWitt Invitational; second
at Lake Orion Invitational; won Macomb L'Anse Creuse North Invitational.

STATE MEET
FINISH: Did not qualify.

MEET THE
DRAGONS: Calli Long, sr. (capt.);
Rachel Suspeck, sr. (capt.);
Erica Remstad, sr. (capt.);
Nicole Oakes, jr. (capt.); Amy Gregory, sr.; Jessyca Singleton, sr.; Amy Pfister,
sr.; Jessica Sutton, sr.; Brooke Reichert, sr.; Sierra Smith, sr.; Amanda Wencel, sr.; Megan Belcher, sr.; Cassie Varner, sr.; Didi Chmielewski, jr.; Danielle Elsey, jr.; Annie O'Dell, jr.; Annie O'Dell, jr.; Jessica Zmierski, jr.; Whitney Clubine,
jr.; Alex Tracy, jr.; Ashley Phifer, jr.; Sarah Marcoux, jr.; Nicole Fortin, jr.; Jessie Morgan, jr.;
Kendall Stout, soph.; Jessica Stefko,
soph.; Lauren Mannor, soph.; Stephanie Ferguson, soph.;
Kaley Savage, soph.; Alycia Klocke, soph.; Ashley Hartzell, soph.; Marissa Stefan, soph.;
Allison Adams, fr.

NOTABLES:
Lake Orion ventured through a rebuilding campaign last season, and saw its
consecutive state finals appearences snapped at 10;
Dragons were still one of area's top teams, never finishing lower than fourth
at any tournament all season depsite having six
freshmen on varsity; No. 7 Lake Orion competes in one of state's top Class A regionals that includes No. 2 Rochester, No. 5 Troy Athens
and Rochester Stoney Creek, which is listed as honorable mention in this week's
polls; Lake Orion will have one of largest rosters around, with 33 varsity
cheerleaders this season.

SCHOOL: Oxford

HEAD COACH:
Kristy Gibson-Marshall, fourth season.

LEAGUE MEET
FINISH: Won inaugural Flint Metro League title

REGIONAL MEET
FINISH: Fifth at Class A regional.

OTHER
FINISHES: Third at Oxford
Invitational.

STATE MEET
FINISH: Did not qualify.

NOTABLES: Oxford has benefitted from
regional realignment this season, and will host its own regional; Wildcats'
stiffest regional challengers for a state berth will be No. 9 Hartland,
Brighton, (honorable mention in this week's rankings) and Lapeer West; Oxford
has never advance to the MHSAA-sponsored state finals; team won the inaugural
Flint Metro League title last season, a two-day competition, but has already
lost to league member Lapeer West at another invitational this year; team
graduated 13 athletes and starts the year with just 13 varsity athletes.