Unity Christian shows signs of improvement as conference
cheer season begins

Thursday,
January 20, 2005By Dean Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

HUDSONVILLE -- Unity
Christian competitive cheer coach Kristen Koetje
didn't want to jinx herself so she stated the obvious words that are used to
avoid future misfortunes.

Knock on wood.

After an injury-plagued
2003-04 season, Koetje's
group has stayed healthy so far and she hopes it remains that way as they
begin the conference season this week.

"Last year we had a
lot of injuries, but this year we haven't had any injuries--knock on
wood," Koetje said. "They've been a hard
working group and every thing is going very well so far this year."

In its third-year of
existence, Unity has strived to develop a competitive program and there have
been early signs of improvement.

The Crusaders competed
last Saturday at the Gull Lake Invitational and placed fifth out of 10 teams.
They tallied a three-round score of 608, which was a dramatic 70-point
increase from the previous week.

Unity kicked off the
season Jan. 8 at the Grandville Invitational and placed third in Class B
Division 2 with a grand total of 531.5.

"They improved a lot
over the week and our scores were really good considering how they were our
first year," Koetje said. "They were
higher than we what we had at the end of the season and to be within 40
points from the fourth place team (Allegan) is a huge improvement from last
year this early on."

The Crusaders have 14 on
this year's squad, but nine are newcomers to the varsity level.

The returners
include seniors Maggie Koetje, Gina Overweg, Danielle Streelman and
Lindsay Pals and junior Audra Bennett.

Kristen Koetje said getting her young girls up to speed has been
a work in progress.

"It's basically a crash
course for them," she said. "Most of them have some skills so it's
basically me teaching them how to do it at the varsity level."

© 2005 Grand Rapids Press. Used
with permission

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