Sunday, February 20, 200

Eagles take KVC cheer

By Fred Costello

daily press & argus

HOWELL -
Hartland's competitive cheerleading team continued its dominance of the
Kensington Valley Conference, winning its second consecutive league title on
Saturday.

The
eighth-ranked Eagles scored 674 total points to earn the win. Brighton equaled last year's KVC performance, finishing
as league runner-up with 633 points. Howell took fourth place with 498.5
points. Six KVC teams participated in the event.

Hartland
coach Paula Cunningham enjoyed winning the KVC title and had her sights set
on the upcoming regional competition on March 5 in Oxford.

"I
feel like we did well overall, but we still need to work on our round three
scores," Cunningham said.

Like most
of the KVC's cheer squads, Hartland has encountered
a string of illnesses. Cunningham said having a veteran team made the
revolving lineup flow easily.

"It's
a big testament to our depth," Cunningham said. "The girls learned
how to rise to the challenge."

No one,
however, overcame more than Brighton on
Saturday.

As the
Bulldogs were preparing for the second round of the competition, one of its
team members became suddenly ill and was unable to participate.

In stepped Katie Spring.

The Brighton junior had to fill in as a last-minute
substitution.

"I had
never been in the stunt round before," Spring said. "I went in
feeling like I was blind out there. I know I didn't do a perfect job, but I
did what I could."

Spring
explained the overwhelming nervousness she felt when she was called on to
fill in.

"I
didn't really think that I would have to go in," Spring said. "But
when I found out I had to, all I was thinking about was to go out and do my
job."

Teammate
Becky Salter was amazed by the Bulldogs' resolve.

"We
all kept calm and (Spring) had 10 minutes to go through the routine,"
Salter said. "It was a rough day, but we pulled through."

Brighton coach Kim Klaus was overjoyed with the
second-place result.

"The
girls were put to the challenge and they met it," Klaus said. "The did an awesome job and I'm very proud of this
performance."

Highlanders'
coach Melanie Sietman was not disappointed with the
fourth-place finish. Like Hartland, her Howell team also has had a number of
girls out sick for several weeks.

"I'm
happy with the girls," Sietman said. "There's been a lot of changes in the past few weeks and we
pulled through very well. We're hoping nobody else gets sick."

Howell
senior Jaylin Shreve said the team is looking
forward to getting healthy as the cheer season comes to a close.

"Right
now with so many girls out sick, we're excited to have a full team heading
into regionals," Shreve said.

The
competition was close after round one, as Hartland gained a narrow 189-179.5
advantage over second-place Brighton. In
round two, however, the Eagles came on stronger, earning 197.5 points. Brighton again managed a second-place 179.5. In round
three it was Hartland again, edging Brighton
by a 287.5-274 margin. Howell turned in scores of 132, 145 and 221.5. Novi
finished third, while South Lyon and Milford
followed in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Klaus has
high hopes for the Bulldogs. After finishing as state runners-up in 1999, Brighton has missed qualifying each of the past two
seasons. She believes Hartland will prove the biggest obstacle in her team's
quest.

"Hartland
is a great team," Klaus said. "We all want to go to states and we
haven't been there for two years. It will all depend on the day. If you
really bring it to a competition then anything's possible."

Likewise,
the Eagles believe Brighton is one of their
biggest rivals.

"It's
going to be a pretty tight race with us, Brighton
and Mason (at regionals)," Hartland senior
Sarah Rogers said.

The top two
cheerleading squads from the March 5 regional advance to the state final,
scheduled for March 12 in Grand
Rapids.