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Thursday,
January 20, 2005 — 1:33:56 PM EST

Bring it on:
Munising to cheer in MHSAA tourney

By RENEE PRUSI,
Journal Sports Editor

PHOTO: Munising High School
cheerleaders practice a formation. The team is going to take part in the Michigan High School
Athletic Association tournament this March, the first squad from the Upper Peninsula to do so. (Journal photo by John
Pepin)

MUNISING
- Cathy Hendrick is ready to take her Munising High School cheerleading team to
the next level.

This
season, her Mustang competitive cheerleading squad will take part in the
Michigan High School Athletic Association tournament, the first time an Upper Peninsula school will participate.

"There
are three different formats for cheerleading," said Hendrick, in her 14th year of coaching the sport.
"There is the national level in which you qualify through camps. We
did that in 1996, going to Dallas.

"Then
there's the Michigan Cheerleading Coaches Association (MCCA), which
organizes competitions. Then there's the MHSAA.

"Competitive
cheerleading has developed into an MHSAA event, like the rest of high
school sports," she said. "We will be the first U.P. team to go
to that tournament."

Munising
will be competing in MHSAA Region 14 at Breckenridge against the host
school. They will be joined by Bad Axe, Brown
City, Burton Atherton, Burton Bendle,
Ithaca, Merrill, Sandusky,
Sanford-Meridian and St Louis.

That
regional competition on March 5 will be followed by the state finals
March 12 in Grand Rapids.
Between now and then, the Munising cheer team will be participating in
six downstate meets and one home event.

The
21 girls on the team - in grades nine through 12 - have been
practicing since early November to be ready for the season.

"We
start competition Saturday at Chippewa Hills," Hendrick
said. "We will be doing a lot of traveling. We will be on a lot of
overnight trips, when we go the day before the competition and come home
right after it.

"The
school has been really supportive," she said. "And the girls
have done some fund raising for extra
things."

The
Mustangs will host a competition Feb. 5 that will feature teams from
around the U.P., most of whom compete in the MCCA format. Some downstate
schools have been invited to Munising for the event, as well.

When
most folks think of cheerleaders, they imagine the squads that work to
pump up the crowds attending football or basketball games.

"As
an MHSAA team, we're not obligated to cheer on the sidelines, but we
do," Hendrick said. "But for the past
six years, we don't travel with the other teams on the road. And we will
miss some of the home games this year with our own travel."

PHOTO:
The Munising
High School
cheerleading team practices for the competitive cheer season, which for
them begins Saturday with a trip to lower Michigan. The Mustangs will
be the first Upper Peninsula team to
take part in the MHSAA tournament in March. (Journal photo by John
Pepin)

MHSAA
rules state the competitive cheer squads must take part in at least four
contests, but not more than 12. Munising will be in eight competitions -
weather-permitting - to prepare for the regionals
the first Saturday in March.

"The
top two qualifiers from each region go to the state finals. That's 10
total, since there are five regions," she said.

The
team practices in the evenings most of the time. Team members are geared
up for Saturday's initial competition and for the road to the state regionals.

"We're
kind of the pioneers of this here in the U.P. As of the 2006-7 season, if cheerleading squads are to compete, they
have to do it through the MHSAA, not through other groups. We decided to
go ahead and get into the MHSAA competition now," Hendrick said.

"It's
a little bit scary, but we're up for the challenge."

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