D2 Preview: Carlson Chases History Again
March 4, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Gibraltar Carlson can add an MHSAA record Saturday to its already-incredible competitive cheer history.
With a sixth straight Division 2 championship, the Marauders would stand alone with the most consecutive MHSAA titles, regardless of class or division. They currently are tied for the longest streak with the Rochester teams from 1999-2003.
Following are glances at all eight Division 2 teams competing at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday. All four Cheer Finals will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv and viewable on a subscription basis.
ALLEN PARK
Rank: No. 2.
League finish: Third in Downriver League.
Coach: Julie Goodwin, 11th season.
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2010, runner-up 2008.
Top score: 782.98 at the Regional.
Team composition: 24 total (four seniors, four juniors, 10 sophomores, six freshmen).
Outlook: This team has a much different look than the one that finished fourth last season; the Jaguars had 11 seniors on that squad, but have four now but a large sophomore class. The new group has kept the same level of success, finishing no lower than third in an event this winter and second at last week’s Regional. Allen Park’s top Round 1 score of 237.1 is tops in Division 2, and its average overall score of 761.4 ranks second in the division – and the Jaguars came less than a point from beating Carlson at the Regional.
DEARBORN DIVINE CHILD
Rank: No. 6.
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic League.
Coach: Amber Genevich, 11th season.
Championship history: Four runner-up finishes (most recent 2014).
Top score: 780.36 at the District.
Team composition: 28 total (two seniors, 13 juniors, six sophomores, seven freshmen).
Outlook: After four straight runner-up finishes in Division 2, Divine Child came in third last season but only 12 hundredths of a point from finishing second again. The Falcons have taken a jump over the last two postseason meets, with the overall scores at those events their best this winter. Divine Child’s top Round 2 score of 229.1 ranks second in Division 2, and its average overall score of 748.7 is a solid fourth. Junior Victoria Greco earned an all-state honorable mention last season.
DEWITT
Rank: No. 4.
League finish: First in Capital Area Activities Conference Red.
Coach: Candace Heskitt, eighth season.
Championship history: Division 2 runner-up 2015 and 2007.
Top score: 775.80 at the District.
Team composition: 25 total (six seniors, two juniors, six sophomores, 11 freshmen).
Outlook: This is another team that has a younger make-up for this trip to the DeltaPlex, but arrives after winning its District and coming in second at the Regional – and placing lower than second at events only twice this season. And there’s plenty of experience, with senior Elizabeth Zunker an all-state first-teamer last season, senior Grace Colarossi making the second team and senior Payton Daggy earning honorable mention. The Panthers are especially strong in Round 1, with a top score of 235.1 ranking third in Division 2 this season.
GIBRALTAR CARLSON
Rank: No. 1.
League finish: First in Downriver League.
Coach: Ayrn Ziesmer, second season.
Championship history: Eight MHSAA titles (most recent 2015), four runner-up finishes.
Top score: 786.40 at the District.
Team composition: 20 total (one senior, one junior, 11 sophomores, seven freshmen).
Outlook: The dynasty continued last season under a new coach as Carlson won its sixth championship in seven seasons and fifth straight. And the surge shows no signs of slowing as the Marauders bring one of the youngest teams to the DeltaPlex this weekend – but one that has an average overall score of 774.1 that tops Division 2 and ranks fourth regardless of division. Carlson’s top Round 2 score of 230.9 this season also ranks first in Division 2. Lone senior Mary Miller made the all-state first team last season, as did sophomore Hannah Pryba, while sophomores Samantha Zdankiewicz, Madison Holbrook and Derrian Forynski made the second team and sophomores Julia Nemeth, Gabby Genaw and Morgan Thomas earned honorable mentions.
GRAND RAPIDS KENOWA HILLS
Rank: No. 3.
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Black.
Coach: Chris Hudson, sixth season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 772.78.
Team composition: 23 total (seven seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores, six freshmen).
Outlook: After finishing second at its league and District in 2015, Kenowa Hills won both again this winter; in fact, the Knights won all but one of their events and have finished first at eight straight. Kenowa Hills finished sixth at last season’s Final, but enters this weekend with the top Round 3 score in Division 2, 320.0, and third-highest average overall score in the division of 756.0. Senior Jordan Stellini made the all-state first team last season, while senior Kayla Impellizzeri made the second team and senior Skyler Dochod earned an honorable mention.
MUSKEGON MONA SHORES
Rank: No. 5.
League finish: Second in O-K Black.
Coach: Amanda Heethuis, ninth season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 769.48.
Team composition: 23 total (five seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores, four freshmen).
Outlook: After a season away, Mona Shores is back at the Finals coming off a second-place finish at its District and third at its Regional. The Sailors have finished first or second nine times this season and lower than third only once. Mona Shores surges in Round 2 – its top score of 227.5 ranks seventh in Division 2 – and its average overall score of 740.3 ranks sixth in the division. Senior Kennedy Ryan earned an all-region honorable mention in 2015.
RICHLAND GULL LAKE
Rank: Unranked.
League finish: First Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference.
Coach: Julie Jones, 19th season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 747.86.
Team composition: 18 total (11 seniors, four juniors, one sophomore, two freshmen).
Outlook: The senior-laden Blue Devils have surged in their first MHSAA Final since 2006 after a second straight league title and fourth straight Regional berth. Gull Lake won eight of its first 10 events this season and has posted four of its five top scores over the last five meets. Its top Round 2 and average overall scores both rank among the top 10 in Division 2 this season. Senior Montana Rehm earned an all-region honorable mention in 2015.
TRENTON
Rank: No. 10.
League finish: Fourth in Downriver League.
Co-coaches: Michelle Maci and Kelly Leone, first seasons.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 774.68 at the Regional.
Team composition: 18 total (six seniors, five juniors, five sophomores, two freshmen).
Outlook: Trenton gives the strong Downriver League its fourth MHSAA finalist and third in this division. The Trojans advanced from a Regional that included two teams from its league but would’ve won the other Regional in Division 2 with their overall score. Trenton’s top scores in all three rounds rank among the top 10 in the division this season. Maci and Leone combine to bring coaching experience from multiple schools, including Divine Child. Seniors Erika Brower and Kelsi Hackney made the all-district second team last season.
PHOTO: Gibraltar Carlson competes during Round 3 of last season’s MHSAA Division 2 championship meet.
Rochester Arrives Again on Top of D1
March 4, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
GRAND RAPIDS – Rochester’s run to a 14th MHSAA competitive cheer championship wasn’t as smooth as the build up to number 13 a year ago.
Of course, that’s almost always going to be the case when comparing to a perfect run like the Falcons enjoyed during 2015-16, when they won all of their competitions.
But a few bumps along the way this winter made Rochester’s latest addition to its record title total special as well. A team that usually doesn’t pull up underclassmen had five. The Falcons had 15 seniors two seasons ago and 13 last winter, but only eight this time. There were only 23 athletes total on the team, making it the school’s smallest since 2000. And by Dec. 10, another perfect run was out of reach, after a third place at an invitational at Stoney Creek won by Sterling Heights Stevenson, Friday’s Division 1 Final runner-up, with 16 more points than Rochester scored that day.
“What happened last year was very out of the ordinary. That was a huge blessing for us,” Rochester senior Megan McMurray said. “This year was a little more of a normal path that we usually take. We did place low in a few competitions, but we rose every time that we fell, and our main goal was just to blast it out during our playoffs, and we did just that. And we got the results (again) that we got last year.”
Rochester won Friday’s Final at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex with a score of 789.02, nearly two points ahead of Stevenson and four more than the rest of the field. That overall score was the third highest posted in Division 1 this season, and the Falcons’ Round 3 total of 320.70 tied its division-best score set earlier this winter.
And it made Rochester a repeat champion for the first time since finishing a three-season run at the top in 2007. This is the fourth time the Falcons have strung together multiple championships since winning the first three Class A Finals from 1994-96, and it’s something that’s becoming increasingly difficult at the Division 1 level as the state’s biggest schools continue to close the gap.
For example: As longtime coach Susan Wood noted, all eight teams Friday hit their Round 3 routines – and that made the Falcons unsure if they had scored enough to pull off the title.
It’s almost tradition for teams to leave the mat after Round 3 and fold into hugs and sometimes tears. Last season, the Falcons did so knowing they’d clinched; this time, McMurray said, those tears came from pulling off a routine that Wood had designed even tougher than a year ago – and even though McMurray and her teammates weren’t sure if they had the title in hand.
That refusal to “water down” the difficulty, even for a newer group like this one, is part of Wood’s philosophy. It can come with a little higher risk – but paid off again Friday with the highest reward.
“Cheerleaders do millions of repetitions of things over and over and over again to get the muscle memory where it needs to be, but with this group we had to be very mentally tough to do it,” said Wood, who has led the team 36 seasons and to all of its championships. “Because physically, I think a lot of these teams are the same. But mental toughness in newer kids is harder to pull out – so that was one of our big battles.”
The seniors – including three-year varsity athletes McMurray, Sydney Asuncion and Sam Ellison – tried to prepare their younger teammate that this might be a rockier road than the perfect recent past.
In McMurray’s words, the Falcons “understood that this was going to be a completely different journey.”
But the team started hitting all of its three rounds at the Oakland Activities Association Red finale Feb. 4, finishing five points better than a field including eventual Division 1 finalists Stoney Creek, Rochester Adams and Lake Orion.
“We were always physically capable of doing things, but a lot of the younger girls were a little bit shy and timid, so a lot of the seniors had to get them out of their shells, make some great personal connections,” McMurray said. “By the end of the season we were in full grind, kicking it, ready to go.
“It felt amazing to be part of the team that brought it back last year. It feels even more amazing to be the team that’s keeping it going.”
But one opponent that should make that streak harder to continue is Stevenson, which tied its best finish ever with its first runner-up performance since taking second in 2011. And the Titans did so with only one senior on the team – and nine freshmen competing.
Stevenson’s score of 787.06 was its best this season by two points, and its Round 3 320.20 was just a half point shy of Rochester’s meet and season best.
The Titans finished seventh two seasons ago and third in 2016.
“We had that uphill battle right from the start, which makes this even sweeter,” said coach Brianna Verdoodt of preparing her young roster. “The amount of work and push and dedication and the grit that went into getting them here. The real, real hard work was put in this year. So now it’s just starting off and keeping things fresh. We watched them truly become a team over the year … this was the best day they’ve had as a team, even off the mat as well.”
Grandville, last season’s runner-up, finished third at 785.34. Stoney Creek was fourth at 783.10 and Rochester Adams, at the Finals for the first time since 1997, finished fifth at 782.66. Hudsonville, Lake Orion and Brighton rounded out the standings.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rochester performs during Friday's Division 1 Final at the DeltaPlex. (Middle) A Grandville cheerleader is raised by her teammates during their round.