Carlson Raises Bar with Perfect Run
March 1, 2014
By Dean Holzwarth
Special to Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – Gibraltar Carlson senior Sarah Tritt was sporting three shiny MHSAA championship rings on her left hand following Saturday’s competitive cheer Division 2 Final.
She soon will be adding another one to the collection.
“Yes, we are going to be designing our fourth one,” Tritt said after the Marauders captured their fourth consecutive Division 2 crown at The DeltaPlex.
Gibraltar Carlson tallied a three-round score of 780.10, while Dearborn Divine Child placed runner-up for the fourth year in a row with a 772.24 total. Allen Park finished third at 769.06.
The Marauders continued their string of dominance in Division 2. They have won the Finals six of the last eight years and were runners-up in 2010.
“It never gets old,” Gibraltar Carlson coach Danielle Jokela said. “I think that these kids did something that was close to impossible – they won four state titles in a row.”
In fact, the Downriver League champions never lost a competition this season – an impressive feat in itself, especially considering the league includes four MHSAA Finals qualifiers and three-time reigning Division 1 champion Southgate Anderson.
“This is the first season that I’ve ever coached an undefeated team where they have won every single competition,” Jokela said. “They fought hard, they did everything I asked them to do, and today they became state champions.”
Tritt joined teammates Alexis Kopchia and Maelyn Russo as the only seniors to compete on the mat all four years at the Finals.
“This feeling is indescribable,” Tritt said. “It’s like nothing I could ever imagine, and I could not ask for anything more. We were able to overcome so much this year and we pushed through it all and still were able to end on top every time.”
Senior Kiah Manthei agreed with her coach – winning championships never gets old.
“No, it feels better every time,” Manthei said. “This year’s team is the best that we’ve had. There was no drama and we’re all really close. We just knew today that if we performed how we practiced, that it was ours.”
Gibraltar Carlson charged to an early advantage with a pair of dominating rounds.
It posted high scores in Round 1 (234.9) and Round 2 (230.1).
“Round 1 has been our saving grace this year and is amazing, and we have very talented girls in Round 2 who have beautiful skills,” Jokela said. “Getting those high scores definitely boosted our confidence and kept us ahead. That’s what won the state title for us.”
The Marauders held a nearly eight-point cushion entering the final round.
“It’s always good to be a little ahead after Rounds 1 and 2,” Tritt said. “It makes it so much easier going into Round 3.”
Gibraltar Carlson registered a 315.1 in Round 3, which was the third highest among the eight teams.
“We nailed the first two and Round 3 was good enough to seal the deal,” Jokela said.
Dearborn Divine Child, which won the Detroit Catholic League title, trailed Gibraltar Carlson by four points after Round 1 despite scoring a solid 230.2 to open the Final.
It had another superb Round 2 (226.84), and capped the day with the second-highest Round 3 score (315.2).
“It was their goal today to hit three perfect rounds, and really, at the end of the day, we don’t have any control over anyone else or what the judges give us or anybody else,” Falcons coach Amber Genevich said. “They haven’t hit three perfect rounds all season and they did that today. We would’ve loved to finish first, but we’re proud because not many teams here can say that they hit solid rounds, and we did.”
While the frustration of placing runner-up again still lingered, Genevich said this year’s team peaked at the end of the year.
“You get a little tired of being second best, but this year’s second place feels a little different than maybe last year,” she said. “We weren’t a second place team all season. We were third place or fourth place, so we had to work from the bottom and really climb our way to the top.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Gibraltar Carlson athletes look into the crowd during Saturday’s Round 2. (Middle) Dearborn Divine Child performs its Round 3 routine. (Click for action and team photos from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Record-Setting Forest Hills Northern Focused Next on Finals Return
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
February 21, 2023
GRAND RAPIDS – The Forest Hills Northern competitive cheer team doesn’t want to be labeled as a one-year wonder.
The Huskies qualified for the Division 2 Final a year ago for the first time since 1998, and are currently in pursuit of another trip.
“We had a breakthrough year last year.” FHN competitive cheer coach Carly Sienkiewicz said. “It was a great year, and I think a lot of our returners were excited to try to top it if we can and live up to that expectation.
“We wanted to prove that it wasn't just a fluke year, it wasn’t just a one-time thing. It's been driven by the girls to prove that we’re here to stay.”
Last season was definitely memorable for the Huskies.
In addition to a Finals appearance, where they finished sixth, they also won their first District championship.
“It was the coolest thing ever,” FHN senior Julie Fiser said. “To make it to state always seemed like such a big goal, and then to make it there last year was unforgettable. We were all so excited and so proud, and we’ve all been fighting for the same feeling this year.
“It has been a theme for us this season. We really want to repeat it and grow as a program and sport.”
The Huskies have put themselves in position to vie for another Finals berth with another outstanding season, led by the return of seven seniors.
FHN won the Ottawa-Kent Conference White championship for the third-straight year a few weeks ago and set several school records in the process.
At the final conference meet, the Huskies established program-high marks in each round (Round 1: 230.6, Round 2: 224.2, Round 3: 318) and overall team score with a 771.5.
“They’ve been doing great,” Sienkiewicz said. “We started off the year pretty slow and we had a lot of people come in and look at our rounds and help us as much as they could with technique stuff.
“I do that every year, but this year’s team just ran with it and was really diligent about applying it and fixing little details. That has been a big help in our rounds.”
Senior Alexis Linder said the last four years have been a culmination of improving and building toward acquiring high scores.
“We’ve broken records throughout my four years, but this was exciting, especially coming against our rivals,” she said. “We pushed through some adversity.”
The senior core has led the charge in helping the Huskies make a name for themselves within the landscape of the top teams in the state.
“It's a talented group, and a group that has been with our program for a long time, most of them since freshman year,” Sienkiewicz said. “So just a lot of returners with experience who can lead the new ones along.”
FHN competed Saturday in a Division 2 District and finished third behind Cedar Springs and champion Muskegon Reeths-Puffer.
The Huskies dealt with a few setbacks earlier in the week, including an injury, but did enough to move on and place among the four qualifying teams.
“It was a little bittersweet,” Sienkiewicz said. “Obviously we’re excited to move on and have an additional week together, but I think the team had higher expectations.
“We came off a strong three-week run and the conference championship, and then things happened that hurt some of our rounds, especially Round 2. We talked about how we had to regroup and decide that we are still in this to fight. I think we are going to be stronger going into next weekend.”
Another top-four finish at Regionals would put them back into the Finals.
“It’s sad that we didn’t get as high as we wanted (at the District), but we will take it and hopefully fight for another week,” Fiser said. “We will use that lower place as motivation and beat some of those teams that we’ve gone up against. We will use that as fire.”
The Huskies will attempt to overcome the hurdles that plagued them.
“The big thing is we have to execute where we can,” Sienkiewicz said. “Since we had to take our tucks out of Round 2, if we can execute on other higher-difficulty skills then that will help optimize our score. I think we will still be in the fight.”
Added Linder: “It will be hard, but we have to stay consistent with what we’ve been doing and improve the little things. We’ve had some setbacks, but we’ve been able to come back from those and we’ll just keep fighting.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS Forest Hills Northern competes during Saturday's District on its home mat. (Photos by Jamie McNinch Photography.)