Holland Christian program thrives early

Thursday,
March 09, 2006

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

It usually takes a while for a
competitive cheer program to get established.

Holland Christian, however, has
reached the level of state power in a relatively short time.

It was only four years ago when the
Maroons started their program, but they've evolved into a serious contender
for Saturday's Class B state championship at the DeltaPlex.

The third-ranked team in Class B
seeks its first state title after placing runner-up to Ovid-Elsie in last
year's state meet debut.

"None of the girls had ever
done competitive cheer before," said Holland Christian's Peggy Lintemuth, who coaches with her daughter, Beth. "We
were starting from ground zero."

Peggy Lintemuth
said the initial goal was just to stay out of the conference basement.

"Our goal was to not place
last in our conference and we ended up tying for fourth," she said.
"We won the conference the next year and from then on I never dreamed
that they would ever be able to accomplish what they have."

The Maroons steadily improved their
confidence and scores, and it culminated last week with their first regional
championship.

"They've worked so hard to
improve and they took a lot of joy in what they were able to accomplish last
weekend," Peggy Lintemuth said.

A sign that Holland Christian's
program has arrived occurred on a Thursday night this season when it competed
at East Kentwood against Grandville, West Ottawa
and the host Falcons.

The Maroons finished last among the
four elite Class A schools, but their scores weren't too far behind.

"We felt like we had won and
it was a great night for them," Peggy Lintemuth
said. "They weren't intimidated by those other schools and they wanted
to compete against them."

Class A teams chase title

In Class A, no team other than Rochester or Grandville
has won a state title in the 12 years competitive cheer has been offered as a
Michigan High School Athletic Association sport.

Rochester, the defending champion, has
collected nine state championships, while the Bulldogs have three.

One noticeable absence on Saturday
will be West Ottawa, last season's state
runner-up.

The fourth-ranked team in Class A
didn't make it out of a talented regional that included Grandville and
regional champion East Kentwood.

"It's a shame that West Ottawa
isn't going because they're ranked in the top five and they're better than a
lot of teams that will be going to state," East Kentwood coach Stacy
Sheler said.