Balance key in Coastal cheer league

Thursday,
February 03, 2005

By Bob
Walters

CHRONICLE
STAFF WRITER

It is shaping up to be a
cheer to the finish in the Coastal Competitive Cheer Conference.

The four-team league
features Shelby, North Muskegon, Montague and Fremont in a tight battle
for supremacy.

Shelby laid its claim to the conference
crown Wednesday, taking first place in the league's second jamboree of the
season at Montague.

The
Tigers swept all three rounds and finished with 595 1/2 points, followed
closely by North Muskegon with 578 points and
Montague with 574.

Fremont, a growing program with just seven
girls on the squad, was fourth with 511 1/2.

"It's going to be a
fight right down to the finish," said Shelby coach Penny Grinage-Guy.
"We have two more league meets and everyone is a contender right
now."

With the win, the Tigers
moved into a tie atop the conference standings with North
Muskegon, which won the first jamboree.

"It was a real team
effort, you could see it in their eyes that it was starting to click,"
said Grinage-Guy of her team's performance. "It
is by far the best three rounds we've put together this year."

Round one is comprised of an
original routine that is judged on six different aspects: floor mobility,
vocals, jumps, coordination, difficulty and variety and general impression.

Round two is the skill round
in which teams choose five skills from three different categories --
(flexibility, jumping and tumbling -- to preform in
unison.

The final round is a
stunting round that incorporates jumps, mounts, tumbling and/or any other
gymnastics skill and is judged on the same criteria as round one.

"In round three,
everything stuck," said Grinage-Guy. "You
could tell the girls were really going out there to perform."

Defending conference
champion Montague placed second in rounds one and three -- just ahead of North Muskegon -- led by the freshmen trio of Ashley
Rogers, Sam Westrate and Tanya Lanning.

"They add so much to
our cheer," said Montague coach Jennifer Diamond of her young trio, who
all come from gymnastic backgrounds. "I am really proud of how they handle
the pressure. They get the crowd going and make the routine really exciting.
They've been doing a great job."

The conference schedule
resumes Wednesday at Shelby and concludes at North Muskegon.

"My girls really enjoy
this league," added Grinage-Guy. "It is
nice to see the same teams and it helps to get a healthy area rivalry going.

"It also helps to keep
the travel down for competitions. Hopefully, we can get some more area teams
involved."

© 2005 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission