Fourth-place
finish still holds reason to cheer

Thursday,
March 09, 2006

By
Steve Ungrey

The Grand Rapids Press

COMSTOCK PARK
-- The members of Wyoming
Park's competitive
cheer team huddled in a circle, faces down toward the mats.

They were hoping for a top-two
finish at Saturday's Class B regional, which would mean the team's season
would continue a couple of miles away this weekend, at the DeltaPlex in
Walker.

Instead, the Vikings finished
fourth out of 16 teams, but it wasn't all disappointment for the Wyoming Park cheerleaders. They scored 709.3
points, one of four teams to go over 700 points and only 3.5 points behind
second-place Sparta
(712.8).

Holland Christian won with 721.3
points.

"We have nothing to be ashamed
about," Wyoming
Park coach Erin Neitzel said. "Everybody did well tonight. The
scores were so close, a couple points separated each
team toward the top."

Neitzel was happy to see the high score
amidst a lot of tough competition.

"Every round the girls did
their best," Neitzel said.

Wyoming Park
began with a first-round score of 191, putting it a half-point ahead of Sparta in third place.
The Vikings scored 208.3 in the second round, slipping them into fourth, and
they finished with a third-round score of 310.

Even though Wyoming Park
did not finish in the top two, it still got two cheerleaders (Lindsey Aman and Joy Hoek) on the
all-region team, as selected by the Competitive Cheer Coaches Association of
Michigan.

Neitzel earned co-coach of the year honors
in regionals, along with Comstock Park
coach Kathy Felty.

"It's an honor, definitely
Kathy deserves it as well," said Neitzel, who
loses five seniors. "It was a good season. We'll miss our seniors a
lot."

Godwin Heights
(655) and Byron
Center (634.8) did not
qualify for state but finished in the top half of the standings. Godwin Heights
took sixth, while Byron
Center finished
seventh. Rogers
did not finish all three rounds.

Lee and Kelloggsville competed in
the Class C regional at Shelby.
Lee finished seventh (548.3) and Kelloggsville finished in eighth (502.2).