Sunday, March 13, 2005

Associated Press

The Rochester squad stays
in sync during the second round of the Competitive Cheer Championship finals
at the DeltaPlex. Its seniors were instrumental in the victory.

Competitive cheer

Rochester dominates to claim Class A

The title is its ninth, and that is a state record; Southgate
Anderson is fourth.

By Tom Markowski / The Detroit
News

GRAND RAPIDS -- Marissa Wintermantle and her Rochester
teammates weren't perfect Saturday, but they came close.

Rochester placed first in each of the three rounds and easily won
the Class A Girls Competitive Cheer Championship with
a score of 742. Holland West Ottawa was second with 716 and Hartland third with
708.5.

Southgate
Anderson finished strong in the final two rounds to place fourth at 706.0, and
defending champion Grandville was fifth at 701.5.

It was Rochester's state-record
ninth state title and sixth in the last seven years.

"There
were a few things that were off," said Wintermantle,
one of 15 seniors on coach Susan Wood's team.

"But
our best was good enough today. A lot of girls wanted to do their best. Winning
isn't everything, but it's what we strive for. In the second round, our back
tucks we really did well. In the third, our scales were great."

Rochester had a score of 193 after the first round and 420 after the
second. The Falcons had an 11-point lead over West Ottawa
heading into the third round, and Wood said this margin gave her squad
self-assurance entering the final round.

"The
third round is our strong round," Wood said. "The difficulty of those
stunts is very high. We choreographed it to be a strong round. Over the season,
we've had trouble there. Today we had the lead after the second round, and the
girls had confidence.

"It's
(15 seniors) the most I've had in my 24 years. They have great chemistry; they
have a lot of trust for one another. I had 14 seniors last year, and that was
tough (not winning). You can't win every year."

Class C-D

Breckenridge
won its second straight Class C-D Competitive Cheer championship with a score
of 694.5. It is the school's fifth title in the last six years.
Pewamo-Westphalia, the 2003 champion, was second at 677.

Class B

Ovid-Elsie
won its second straight state title with a score of 705.5.

Holland
Christian had a score of 310.5 in the third round and was second at 702. Grosse
Ile took was the third-place finisher at 697.