On to
states Competitive cheer team takes second at regionals

By Terry Jacoby, The Ile
Camera

Published:
March 10, 2006

Grosse Ile competitive cheer coach Liz Kazik knew
Saturday's regional was going to be a three-team race.

And she was right on the mark, as were her Red Devils, who finished second
and qualified for a spot in tomorrow's state finals in Grand Rapids.

The Class B competition begins at 6 p.m.

The top two teams at regionals qualify for the
state meet and after the first round Saturday, Grosse Ile was not one of the
top two teams.

Carlson and Dearborn Divine Child each scored 189 after the first round while
Grosse Ile scored a 186. But the Red Devils moved into second place after the
second round and stayed there for the rest of the meet.

Grosse Ile finished with 685.9 points while Carlson won the meet with 699
points. Divine Child was third with 668 points and Richmond was fourth with 589 points.

"It was a very exciting day," Kazik
said. "The team practiced hard last week and we knew going in it would
be a tight competition and the winners would be decided in round 3.

"Carlson and Divine Child are both top-notch teams and the title
would end up going to the team that made the least mistakes."

Kazik said they weren't paying too much
attention to what other teams were doing.

"Our goal for the day was the same as it always is, to be as clean
and exciting as we can be," she said. "We don't pay a lot of
attention to other team's scores, just what we have to do one round at a time
to stay in the game."

The Red Devils followed both Carlson and Divine Child in round 3 and knew
they had to "hit everything to take the lead."

"We did have a slight breakdown in one of the stunts near the end of
our final round, but the team rallied back with a very strong finish," Kazik said. "We knew we didn't overtake Carlson for
the first place position, but we really didn't know until the announcements
if our efforts were enough to advance to the state finals."

Four Red Devils were named to the All-Region team: Chrissy
Dudash, Laura Hickman, Ashley Kowalski and Sarah
Pelts.

It also was announced that two Red Devils were the only two academic
scholarship recipients from the region. Julia Wangen
won a $1,000 scholarship and Monica Cole received a $500 scholarship from the
Competitive Cheer Coaches Association.

The Red Devils finished third at last year's state meet.

"We've competed against almost everyone in Class B that will be at
the finals, so the team knows the caliber of teams competing," Kazir said. "It's anyone's game next week and should
prove to be an exciting competition."

The 10 teams advancing to the states are Richland Gull
Lake, Allegan, Onstead,
Carleton Airport,
Carlson, Grosse Ile, Chesaning, Remus Chippewa Hills, Holland Christian and Sparta.