West Ottawa, Unity Christian win cheer titles

Sunday,
February 06, 2005

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

KENTWOOD -- Three of the top competitive
cheer teams in Class A had a similar dilemma entering Saturday's Falcon Fest at
East Kentwood High School.

West Ottawa, East Kentwood
and Hartland, which are all ranked in the top 10 in the state, weren't
competing at full strength.

Although each team was
undermanned, No. 3 West Ottawa survived the battle of the beaten and battered
en route to its third victory of the season.

The
Panthers posted the win in Class A with a three-round total of 727.5. The host Falcons were second with 714.5, while Hartland was
third at 689.

"I know talking to the
coaches from East Kentwood and Hartland that all of us had girls out today, so
we felt like we were in the same boat," West Ottawa
coach Kelli Polinskey said. "I wasn't sure what to expect as far as the
other teams, but the girls had positive attitudes coming in so I wasn't worried
about them struggling with not having everyone here."

West
Ottawa
earned the highest marks of the day in all three rounds and capped off the
competition with a stellar round-three performance that produced a score of
315.

"They were excited to
see Hartland because we hadn't seen them yet and we hadn't seen East Kentwood in a while," Polinskey said.

The No. 6 Falcons also
performed well.

"I was very happy with
our scores, especially with all of the changes that we made yesterday (on
Friday)," East Kentwood coach Stacy
Sheler said. "I have three girls who have broken bones so to score like we
scored today without my team 100 percent makes me think it's just going to get
better from here."

Unity earns first victory

In Class B/C, Unity
Christian made school history by winning its
first-ever competition.

The Crusaders, who are
guided by coach Kristen Koetje,
had a three-round score of 622.5.

Montague (589.5) finished
second and Bloomingdale (499.5) was third

"I am the proudest
coach right now," Koetje said. "We had an
injury this week, but they really pulled together and got one of our highest
scores of the season.

"Being a third-year team
not knowing what it was like to win and now having the chance to experience it
was a thrill. It's also very good for their moral and for the program as we
keep building."

© 2005 Grand Rapids Press. Used with permission