Cheer team
endures 'frazzled week'

Thursday,
January 12, 2006

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

To say that the Catholic Central
competitive cheer team had a rough week leading up to their debut on the mat
would be an understatement.

The Cougars competed for the first
time Saturday at the Grandville Invitational.

But last week, prior to that
competition, senior captain Meaghan Fowler was rushed to the hospital with a
kidney stone and senior Sydney Stein was dropped accidentally during practice
and sustained strained muscles in her neck.

The
incidents left the Cougars in a state of disarray Saturday, but they still
managed to place third in the Class 2B Division.

"It was definitely a frazzled
week," Cougars coach Sarah Parker-Hormuth
said. "But I was really proud of them for going out there with all the
adversity that we had faced during the week. They didn't complain and they
did what they had to do to get though it. They gave 100 percent and that was
the most important thing."

The Cougars tallied a three-round
score of 566.9 and finished behind runner-up Allendale and first-place Gull Lake.

It wasn't the start that Parker-Hormuth envisioned, especially since last-minute changes
were needed in order to compete.

"Those were big blows to the
team because Meaghan competed in all three rounds and I had to move a
freshman (Leah Nakfoor) up from the junior varsity
to fill in," Parker-Hormuth said. "We
also had to make adjustments to each round and it just made it tough."

While the injuries hampered their
preparation and hindered their scores, Saturday served as an early look at
where the Cougars need to improve.

"We did get something out of
it because we found out what we have to work on going into this
weekend," Parker-Hormuth said.

The Cougars will travel to the Gull
Lake Invitational on Saturday and Parker-Hormuth
hopes the worst is behind them.

"We have to pick the pieces
from yesterday (Saturday) and move on," she said. "We want to turn
the season around and grow and keep getting better week after week.

"This is a very intelligent
team and they're all very determined. I would say that personality and
attitude-wise, this is the best team I've ever had."

The Cougars trimmed their roster
this season to give girls more experience. After having 20 last season, only 11 are on the varsity squad, while the others
are on the junior varsity.

"Only half of the girls
competed last season so they didn't get much experience," Parker-Hormuth said. "I didn't think that was the smartest
thing to do in trying to build a program so we split them in half to get more
experience. We didn't have a junior varsity team last year, but we have one
this year."

Senior Lindsay Nakfoor
is the other captain on a squad that returns nine, but only four are seniors.
Shannon Barton is the other returning senior