Sports

Cheer team hopes to earn
finals spot at regionals this weekend

Lisa
Valentine

March
02, 2005 - After
missing out on the state finals last year, the Lake Orion
varsity competitive cheerleading team hopes to earn a spot this year, by
finishing in the top three at the regional competition on March 5.

Coach Nancy deAvila said the team
had a "disaster day" at the OAA League meet several weeks ago,
after receiving a 50-point penalty and combatting
injury and illness.

"We had a major fall in the third round," she
said. "We came out with two girls injured, and we went into winter break
with injury and illness."

DeAvila
opted to have her team skip the following competition, Delta Plex, and they instead competed at Chesaning on Feb. 19,
where Lake Orion took sixth.

"We had a really good day," said deAvila. "We had season-high scores in the second
and third rounds."

On Feb. 26, the Dragons competed in the Stoney Creek
Invite, taking third place behind Hartland and Brighton.

"We beat Stoney Creek,
and they are in our region," said deAvila.
"I feel confident that we have a really good shot (at regionals)."

DeAvila's goal is to have her team place second, after they placed fourth
last year.

"Athens and Stoney Creek will be our biggest rivals," she
said. "We beat Athens at our
invitational, but we lost to them at Oxford
and the league meet."

DeAvila
said the team has since recovered from their illness and injuries, and will
be strong for the regional.

"It will be a fight to the finish," she said.
"The third round will be the deciding factor.

"I think they've been able to see themselves
consistently improving, scoring-wise, and in confidence," deAvila said. "We know where we are strong, and
where our rivals strengths are."

The Lake
Orion varsity team had
been regional champions for eight consecutive years before their region was
changed last season.

"We also graduated 15 seniors the year before...We
were really in a rebuilding year," deAvila
said. "This year, those freshmen are sophomores, and we have a lot of
talent in the sophomore class.

"They are starting to understand the tradition of Lake Orion
cheerleading," she said.

Lisa has been a staff writer and sports editor for The Review
since June, 1999. A graduate of Oakland
University, she has won several
Michigan Press Association awards for writing and photography during her
career in Lake Orion. She currently resides in Oxford.