Sunday, January 15, 2006

Panthers dominate competition

No. 5 West Ottawa wins home
invite with ease

By
LEO MARTONOSI Senior correspondent

IN UNISON: Members of the West Ottawa High School Competitive
Cheer team compete in the first of three rounds during the West Ottawa
Competitive Cheer Invitational Saturday afternoon.

GETTING INTO IT: West Ottawa
seniors Ashlee Stone, front, and Melissa Ross perform Saturday.

Sentinel/Dan Irving

Even though West Ottawa
didn't receive as much competition as it normally would at its own competitive
cheer invitational Saturday, Panthers' eighth-year coach Kelli Polinskey was still pleased with the performance of her
squad.

"It was nice
to compete in a tournament where there was less pressure," Polinskey said. "That way we could just focus on
ourselves and not the score."

With no Grandville
or East Kentwood around, the state Class A
fifth-ranked Panthers collected a winning 692.6 score.

"Those teams
competed at the Jenison tournament today,
but said they will be back in our tournament next year," said Polinskey. "Even though some of the top teams from
our previous tournaments weren't here, there were some good teams here.
Besides ourselves, Hudsonville, Mona Shores
and Reeths-Puffer did very well."

Hudsonville
finished a distant second to the Panthers with 634.9 points.

West
Ottawa, who finished second at the state Class A Finals last year,
has similar goals this year, according to senior Hailey Moeke.

"We want to
get better and better and get back to state," Moeke
said.

Polinskey admitted her team
has set some lofty goals.

"The
expectations are high," Polinskey said.
"But unlike last year where we began and started fast, this year's team
has started a little slow. It has taken smaller steps, with the same goals in
mind."

Moeke said her mother, a
high school cheerleader, encouraged her to go out for competitive cheer.

"I'm glad I
did," said Moeke. "I love my teammates. I
love our coach. She really knows what she is doing."

Besides Moeke, Polinskey was also
pleased of the efforts Saturday of seniors Arena Sikoulabout,
Laura Mathews, Ashlee Stone, Mande Pfost, Autumn Cooper and Melissa Ross.

"Heather Fuglseth and sophomore Amanda Janowiak
have also really contributed for us at the varsity level," Polinskey said.

It was tough on Polinskey and her teammates to see senior Megan Rich on
the sidelines.

"She's very
solid," said Polinskey of Rich, who broke her
hand in practice Thursday. "We had to do some flip-flopping and will
miss Megan."

Rich, who competed
in two rounds, wasn't as upset as some might have expected about the
possibility of missing the rest of the season.

"Obviously, I
would like to be out there with my teammates, but it doesn't do anyone any
good to dwell on my injury," Rich said.

Fennville, a
first-year program, came in third in the B-C-D portion of the tourney with a
222.1 score.

"We're
learning and did pretty well against very good competition," said
Fennville coach Jennifer Howard.

Alyssa Jenne, a senior at Fennville, enjoys the new sport.

"I do sideline
cheer in football, which is a lot different than this," Jenne said. "This is much harder and much
longer."

Contact Leo Martonosi at [email-masked] or (616)
546-4270.