Rah! Shelby
headed to state

Sunday,
March 06, 2005

FROM
LOCAL REPORTS

FROM LOCAL REPORTS

The Shelby Tigers
competitive cheer squad is headed back to familiar territory, the state finals.

The Tigers finished second
to Pewamo Westphalia in the Class C-D regional at Shelby on Saturday. The top two teams from
each regional qualify for the finals on Mar. 12 at the Delta Plex in Grand
Rapids.

Shelby finished runner-up in 2003 and went
on to finish fifth at the finals. This year they are hoping for more of the same,
if not better.

"This really caps our
season," said Shelby
coach Penny Grinage-Guy. "The girls set their
goals at the beginning of the season, and making it to state was very important
to them.

"There are going to be
favorites Breckenridge, Pewamo Westphalia and Hudson at the finals," added
Grinage-Guy. "We just want to perform our best
and give them a run for their money."

Two other area schools, North Muskegon and Montague, were close to qualifying for
the finals.

NM and Montague finished
fourth and fifth, respectively, behind newcomer Saranac.

Shelby, North Muskegon
and Montague finished 1-2-3 in a very close Coastal Competitive Cheer
Conference race this season.

"It was tooth and nail
between us, Saranac, North Muskegon and
Montague for second," said Grinage-Guy.
"But we had a strong round two that gave us a little room."

Shelby increased its 6-point lead to
12-points ahead of third-place Saranac entering the final round.

The Tigers, who have four
seniors and a few juniors with finals experience, finished strong and sealed
their finals berth with a strong third round (271 points).

Shelby is hoping that their experience and
strong core of underclassmen can propel them to a strong finish next weekend.

Class A -- At Kenowa Hills,
Mona Shores finished sixth to top local finishers at the Class A regional
competition with a 634 total score. Reeths-Puffer was eighth with a 619 and Muskegon finished 12th at
294. Grandville and Rockford
finished 1-2 and will move on to the state finals.

Class B -- At Coopersville, Fremont finished up its
season with an 11th place finish at regionals, topping 12th place Roscommon by
over 57 points. Chippewa Hills won the regional title by tallying 704.5 points
and Sparta was
second, which sends both teams on to the state finals.

© 2005 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission