PUBLISHED:
Thursday, January 26, 2006

Huskies win CSAA competition

By NATE SCHNEIDER

Sun Sports Writer<

It has become clockwork.

Wednesday night became the 16th consecutive year the
Breckenridge Huskies hosted the Central State Activities Association
competitive cheer competition and ended the day as the winner.

The two-time defending state champions in Class C-D defeated
five other conference foes with a three-round total of 710.2 points, which
was far and away the top score as second place Ovid-Elsie finished with 634.3
points.

The result was particularly satisfying to Breckenridge coach
Deb Gaines due to the team's less-than-stellar performance the previous
competition on Saturday.

"We were outstanding tonight," Gaines said. "We
got busy and worked hard to be better than we were on Saturday."

The Huskies ended the first round with a total of 195 points,
but Ovid-Elsie stayed neck-and-neck as its performance netted a score of 192.

The second round saw Breckenridge edge slightly further into
the lead with a score of 214.7 for a subtotal of 409.7, but Ovid-Elsie
remained on its tails with a solid showing of 192.8 and a subtotal of 384.8.

"We were pretty consistent for all three rounds,"
Gaines said. "We really turned it up tonight."

The Huskies really put all questions to rest with their
performance in round three, showing the home crowd why it has won two
straight titles, and five of the last six, by putting up a score of 300.5. It
was a good enough routine that the result was apparent far before final
scores were announced.

"We have a very close team this year. The girls are like
sisters to each other and the chemistry between them is great," Gaines
said.

There is no doubt in Gaines eyes this team is ready to compete
for a third straight title.

"We are getting close (to where we need to be),"
Gaines said. "We are improving from week to week. I enjoy seeing them
smile and reaching them (as a coach). They have all stepped up this year and
we have a couple of captains who are very passionate."

One of those captains is senior Jill Ostrander, who is the
leader of the squad according to Gaines.

"She is our main leader and always performs with
passion," Gaines said.

Behind Breckenridge and Ovid-Elsie was Central
Montcalm with a score of 515.1.

In fourth place was Ithaca
with 506.2, despite only having four girls competing.

Next was Shepherd with a total of 486.5 and coach Erin Dawes
was happy with her team's performance.

"We really improved from our last competition,"
Dawes said. "We did a great job considering we have a really young team.
We were strongest in round one but I think we did well all competition."

Lakeview rounded out the competition by finishing with 132.2
points over two rounds, despite also competing with only four girls. The Wildcats
did not compete in the third round.

St. Louis traveled to
Breckenridge, but was unable to compete due to illness on the team

.