Allen Park Ends Carlson's Record Streak
March 4, 2017
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – The final round of a competitive cheer meet has the ability to sway emotions one way or another.
On Saturday, Round 3 proved to be the deciding factor in the end of an incredible MHSAA record-breaking run and the extreme jubilation of a team finally getting over the hump.
Allen Park delivered a stirring Round 3 performance and rallied past six-time reigning champion Gibraltar Carlson to win the Division 2 Final at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex.
The Jaguars collected their first MHSAA Final since 2010 by the slimmest of margins. They posted a score of 787.96 and knocked off the top-ranked Marauders (787.90) by six hundredths of a point.
“Every little thing counts,” an elated Allen Park coach Julie Goodwin said. “I’ve never won a meet that was this close, but I’ll take this one. Round 3 has been a great round all year, and I knew if they came out fighting we would be able to take it. I knew it would be close, but I knew our Round 3 could do it for us.”
It appeared as if Gibraltar Carlson was headed toward a seventh straight Division 2 title after grabbing a three-point lead entering the final round.
However, the Jaguars were within striking distance of their Downriver League foe and needed a clutch effort.
“Our coach told us that if we wanted this right now then we had to go out there and do what you do best,” said Allen Park’s Delaney Millner, one of six seniors on the team.
“We went out there, and I think that’s exactly what we did. I could feel their energy on the mat, and ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be on this team and it’s the most humble feeling in the world knowing that my senior year I was able to go out with a bang.”
The Jaguars finished with a score of 321.4 in Round 3, while the Marauders had a 318.4.
“Round 3 is our favorite round and we have so many different things going on,” senior Olivia Grab said. “We knew going into Round 3 that if we put everything we could on the mat then we knew we could take it home.
“We worked so hard from the beginning of the season and so many girls returned from last year when we were runner-up. We knew how hard we had to work, and we broke the streak.”
Allen Park had been knocking on the door. It finished fourth in 2015 and runner-up to Gibraltar Carlson a year ago.
“I kept telling this team that, ‘you are close, you are almost there’, and this is the one that counts,” Goodwin said. “They battled and they wanted it. It’s the hardest-working team I’ve coached, and I couldn’t be more proud.
“After Round 1 we were down and that was a bummer, but it takes three rounds. I knew our Round 2 and Round 3 could pull us through if they did what they needed to do, and they did. They’re the six-time defending champions, and they’re very good.”
Added Millner: “I knew with this team that we had the ability, we had the talent and we had the work ethic. We just had to go out there and kill it.”
It was an emotional outcome for Gibraltar Carlson, which has been a perennial powerhouse in Division 2 for almost a decade.
The Marauders, who were young this season with only one senior, had won eight titles over the last nine years, including setting a new MHSAA record for consecutive titles in any division last season.
“I thought they did great, and I’m very proud of them,” Gibraltar Carlson coach Ayrn Ziesmer said. “Round 1 we came out with a very strong lead, and we could’ve done a little better in Round 2, but we still ended up winning the round. Round 3 was great, and I couldn’t have asked anything more from them.
“Allen Park did great today. I thought today was the best I’ve ever seen them, and I’m really excited for them. They’ve had to go through watching someone else win for six years, and I really hope they enjoy this time because it definitely goes by so fast before you start preparing for another.”
Muskegon Mona Shores (778.94) placed third for its highest finish in school history, while Dearborn Divine Child (775.76) was fourth.
PHOTOS: (Top) Allen Park performs a routine during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Gibraltar Carlson finished second at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex.
Falcons Prove 'Sharpest' of Rochester Powers in Taking Back D1 Title
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2023
MOUNT PLEASANT – The joyful outpouring and high-pitched shrieks that rocked McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant at 8:20 p.m. Thursday were six years in the making.
That was the exact moment when the final scores were read and Rochester realized it had edged its archrival from down the road, three-time reigning champion Rochester Adams, by less than a single point to win its first MHSAA Division 1 competitive cheer championship since 2017.
There were screams, leaps, smiles and hugs – the kind of pure emotion that is rare, but happens in high-level sporting competition.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Rochester senior Ava Grabke said amongst the chaos. “All the hard work we’ve put in this season, really all of these years, finally did pay off.”
Rochester won with a three-round total of 790.62, with Adams less than a point behind at 789.72.
The third high school in the Rochester Community Schools district, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (787.56), placed third, followed by Brighton (317.10) and Grandville (316.80).
The back story is that Rochester has the most cheer titles in state history (now 15), but in recent years, rival Adams has had the upper hand – winning the past three Division 1 championships and edging the Falcons at this season’s District and Regional, making the Highlanders favorites to “four-peat” at the Final.
Instead, it was Rochester, under the direction of first-year coach Samantha Koehler, which got off to a great start in Round 1 and held off a fierce challenge from Adams.
“We had one of our best Round 1 performances of the season today and, obviously, there’s no better time for that than the state finals,” said Koehler, who was a highly-successful head coach at Plymouth before taking over the Rochester program last year from legendary coach Susan Wood.
“It just goes to show that every round matters – every point, every decimal.”
Rochester had a 1.4-point lead after the first round, but Adams trimmed that to 0.9 points by getting the best score in Round 2 – setting the stage for a pressure-packed Round 3.
Stoney Creek and Hartland were also within striking distance and went early in Round 3, but were unable to make a big move.
Rochester vs. Adams took place in the sixth and seventh spots, respectively, in the Round 3 rotation. Both teams were outstanding under pressure and, fittingly, ended up with identical scores of 321.10 in the final round – giving Rochester the overall win by that nine tenths of a point.
“I think going first in that opening round hurt us a little bit,” said ninth-year Adams coach Brooke Miller. “We started a little lower than we expected and even though we won Round 2 and tied them in Round 3, we couldn’t overcome it.”
It was the fourth Finals runner-up finish to go with the three championships for the Highlanders, who had 12 seniors out of 28 athletes on the roster.
Among those seniors, Katie Burgin, Alex Ris and Ashley Rosati were all returning all-state second-team selections, and Emma Maynard and Peyton Regalado were honorable mention choices in 2022.
“Knowing we lost by less than a point is hard to take,” said Adams senior Ava Bolin. “But at the same time, there’s no better feeling than knowing when you get off the mat for the last time that there’s nothing else you could have done. That’s how we felt today.”
Koehler said the rivalry between the three Rochester schools and Oakland Activities Association Red rivals is incredibly intense, but for the most part, very positive. She has an ongoing group chat with Miller and Stoney Creek coach Tricia Williams where they wish each other the best.
“I really don’t have an explanation about how our three Rochester schools are 1, 2, 3 in the state, other than iron sharpens iron,” said Koehler. “We see them pretty much every weekend during the season, and it’s always super close. We know we have to keep working and improving to keep up with them.”
The victory was particularly sweet for the Falcons’ nine seniors, especially after failing to qualify for the Finals in 2021 and then placing fifth last year.
Rochester’s nine seniors were Grabke, Amelia Craft, Emily Isabell, Juliet Jones, Elizabeth Dyki, Maeve Losh, Martina Dedvukaj, Shreya Pillai and Wanja Kamau – all of whom enjoyed one final group rendition of the Rochester program’s theme song, “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree, this time on the McGuirk championship mat.
“It felt great,” Dedvukaj said with a smile. “It was like all the hard work and everything that happened over the past four years led us to this moment.”
PHOTOS (Top) Rochester competes during Thursday’s Division 1 Final at McGuirk Arena. (Middle) Rochester Adams takes the mat on the way to a runner-up finish.