Bulldogs win
cheer tourney

Thursday, December
22, 2005

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

The Grandville competitive cheer
team has begun the season on a high note -- again.

The Bulldogs competed in last
Saturday's Competitive Cheer Coaches Association of Michigan Scholarship
Invitational at Allegan
High School and won the
meet for the fourth time in the last five years.

Grandville scored 706 in their pool
to edge runner-up Rockford,
which finished with a score of 702.6. East Kentwood (694.6) and West Ottawa (667.5) were third and fourth,
respectively.

"We had a good day,"
Bulldogs coach Julie Smith-Boyd said. "Our material was pretty
aggressive for this early, especially in round 3, and rounds 1 and 2 were
pretty clean."

The CCAM Invitational has signaled
the unofficial beginning of the competitive cheer season and boasted a
record-high 20 teams this year.

Smith-Boyd said the competitiveness
of the teams involved should make for an exciting conference season.

"It was a good competition and
I think our conference is going to be really tough," Smith-Boyd said.
"Rockford
did a good job and were right there with us in round
2 with their back tucks and each round was pretty close. The level of
competition is getting better every year."

The Bulldogs will be led this
season by seniors Kristen Roe, Katey Marckini, Kelsey Finch, Kendra Oosterhouse
and Melissa Bergsma, as well as juniors Melissa Byxbe
and Leah Petrauskas.

The returning girls are poised to
erase the memories of last year's finish at the Class A state finals.

After collecting a state title in
2004, the Bulldogs slipped to fifth last year and had a fall in their third
round.

"They've been very motivated
to improve and our theme this year is driven," Smith-Boyd said.

The Bulldogs will host the
Grandville Invitational on Jan. 7.