Friday, March 4, 2005

Sports

Cheer rivals become friends

By Fred Costello

daily press & argus

By
definition, a rivalry is a state of competition or antagonism. In other
words, it's two parties that just don't like one another. But the rivalry
between the Brighton and Hartland
competitive cheerleading teams is of a different kind. It's almost, well,
friendly.

While this
may seem odd to some, the Eagles and Bulldogs will nonetheless be pulling for
one another at this weekend's Class A competitive cheer regional final in Oxford.

Ashley
Clarke doesn't see anything wrong with that. In fact, her and a few of her
fellow Brighton cheer teammates will be working with - not against - a few
members of Hartland's squad this summer.

Clarke,
Erica Frank, Mandy McCue and Angela Seremjian will
be instructors at the Champion Cheer camp in Alma this summer, along with Hartland's
Crystal Wood, Bridget Deming and Sarah Rogers. ÊÊ

The group
went through a series of three grueling tryouts at the camp last summer, each
auditioning for one of 50 coveted instructing positions. A total of 98 girls
participated in the tryout phase. Clarke said the whole experience brought
members of the two schools close together.

"People
expect it to be a mean rivalry," Clarke said. "But we don't have
any problems with any of them. We all have the same interests. When it comes
down to business, yeah, we're there to compete, but it's not a big
deal."

Looking
ahead to this weekend, Clarke believes that the two schools will end up
taking first and second place - grabbing both state finals berths.

"I'm
really excited for the regional," Clarke said. "I know (Brighton and Hartland) will be the two teams going to
states."

Brighton coach Kim Klaus also hopes to see the
Eagles and Bulldogs together make the trip to states.

"Normally
one of us is ahead and one is slightly behind," Klaus said. "It makes
us both better and it's not a mean rivalry in any way. (Hartland coach) Paula
(Cunningham) and I are both hoping that we both go."

While
eighth-ranked Hartland, Brighton and Mason
are generally regarded as the top contenders, Howell also will be among the
12 teams competing for the top two spots.

After
battling through a drastic amount of sick cheerleaders, Howell coach Melanie Sietman says her squad is now ready for the most
important part of the season. But at the same time they're being realistic
with their expectations.

"The
girls are real excited and it's been much better with almost everybody
back," Sietman said. "I just hope to
place toward the top. I know Brighton and
Hartland and Mason will be there and it will be hard to get in the top two."

Over at
Fowlerville, Gladiators' coach Cindy Champagne can understand where Sietman is coming from. Her team also competes within a
very challenging regional bracket at DeWitt.

"We're
in a very tough region," Champagne
explained. "You've got Ovid-Elsie - the defending Class B state
champions - and Chesaning who were second runners-up last year. We're also
going up against DeWitt, who we haven't beaten this year. We're optimistic
and I think that getting at least fourth place is not out of our reach."