February
3, 2005

Falcons
soar to top of Lake Orion Invitational

By Dan Stickradt

Staff
Writer

It's hard
to imagine a No. 1-ranked team in the state being comfortably underneath the
radar, but that's exactly the position that Rochester competitive cheer coach Susan
Wood wants her team to be.

The
Falcons, the top-rated team in Class A, captured the 10-school Class A
competition at the Lake Orion Invitational Saturday afternoon, rolling up an
impressive 701 team score for the team's third-straight invitational win.

Chesaning
won the Class B-C-D division at 674.

"This
team is very focused and a very close, tight team," said Wood, whose
team has finished in the top three at the MHSAA Class A finals each of the
past 11 seasons. "We take it one week at a time. And we don't pay too
much attention to the rankings."

The Falcons
may take a low-key approach to the state's top spot, but they were more than
soaring above the pack over the weekend. Rochester was the only team to top the
700-point plateau. Southgate Anderson, ranked fifth, was second overall (674)
in the three-round format, while host and 10th-ranked Lake Orion
was third (667.5).

Seventh-ranked
Troy Athens was fourth (656) and eighth-ranked Hartland took fifth (632.5). Oxford was sixth (605)
to round out area competitors.

"This
was a good showing for us," said Lake Orion
coach Nancy DeAvila, also the tournament director.
"We finally beat Troy Athens, and they're one our top (rivals) every
year.

"We're
getting better," said DeAvila. "I thought
Rochester
looked really good, but a lot of teams had some problems (with the third
round). Beating Athens
is a good thing for us. It shows that we are getting better."

Rochester
scored rounds of 195 and 216 to go up by 32 points over Southgate Anderson
(411-379) and Lake Orion (411-376.5) entering the stunt round. Rochester had the
fourth-highest score in the final round, but it was still more than enough to
propel them to a convincing victory.

"We
have 15 seniors, we lost one recently, and we had to make some changes,"
said Wood. "But I have faith in our replacements that they'll be able to
step in and make us better. The best thing about this group is that they
learn fast. They work on mistakes and move on."

While area
teams took home three of the top four spots, Oxford is still struggling with its third
round, where its 247 scored dropped them to the sixth position.

"That's
where we really struggle," said Oxford
coach Kristy-Gibson Marshall of her young squad. "We really need to
improve in that round. It's been a disaster for us."