D4 Preview: Huskies Hunt for 3-Peat
March 3, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
It’s tough to overstate how dominant Breckenridge’s cheer program has been since returning to the mat at the start of the 2014-15 season.
But neither of those first two Division 4 championship seasons was accompanied by as much success as this winter’s Huskies have enjoyed.
Below are glances at all eight Division 4 teams competing beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday. All four Finals will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv and viewable on a subscription basis.
ADRIAN MADISON
Rank: No. 4.
League finish: Does not compete in a league.
Coach: Emily Gafford, eighth season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 758.16 at District.
Team composition: 17 total (four seniors, three juniors, six sophomores, four freshmen).
Outlook: Madison is making its first trip to the Finals since 2011 after also winning its first District title since that season. The Trojans are surging with their top two scores coming in the District and Regional, even as that Regional score placed the team fourth, its only finish below third and one of only two lower than second this winter. Madison’s best Round 3 of 314.2 leads Division 3. Seniors Bre Anna Collins and Emily Hindes earned all-region honorable mentions last season.
BRECKENRIDGE
Rank: No. 1.
League finish: Does not compete in a league.
Co-coaches: Deb Gaines, 32nd season; Jenna Graham, ninth season.
Championship history: Nine MHSAA titles (most recent 2016), one runner-up finish.
Top score: 774.32.
Team composition: Nine total (three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores).
Outlook: It’s been an incredible run for Breckenridge, which has won the last two Division 4 titles and finished first in all of its events this season despite having half as many athletes as a year ago. The Huskies’ high score also is higher than at this time last year and would rank among the top five in Divisions 2 or 3; their average overall score of 749.4 is 26 points higher than second-place Madison’s. Senior Harley Conklin, junior Kasey Conn and sophomore Olivia Mayle made the all-state first team in 2016, and senior Madison Smith made the second team.
FARWELL
Rank: No. 5.
League finish: First in Jack Pine Conference.
Coach: Taylor Bryant, fifth season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 751.86.
Team composition: 13 total (seven juniors, five sophomores, one freshman).
Outlook: Farwell doesn’t have a senior this season, but its top overall score is nearly 50 points higher than at this time a year ago and it’s moved up from second to first in the Jack Pine Conference. The Eagles will next try to improve on their eighth place at last season’s Finals; they’ve finished lower than second only once this season. Junior Morgan Nestor earned an all-state honorable mention last season.
HOUGHTON LAKE
Rank: No. 3.
League finish: Second in Jack Pine Conference.
Coach: Celeste Kubiak, 12th season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 752.52.
Team composition: 18 total (nine seniors, seven juniors, two sophomores).
Outlook: Houghton Lake finished fifth last season for the second straight but enters Saturday with a much more experienced lineup that hasn’t finished lower than second this season and has a high overall score 12 points better than when it entered the Finals a year ago. After finishing second to Farwell in the league, the Bobcats finished first ahead of their rival at both the District and Regional. Junior Jessica Whelpley earned all-state honorable mention in 2016.
HUDSON
Rank: No. 2.
League finish: First in Lenawee County Athletic Association.
Coach: Kelly Bailey, 20th season.
Championship history: Four runner-up finishes (most recent 2010).
Top score: 751.30 at Regional.
Team composition: 19 total (nine seniors, four juniors, four sophomores, two freshmen).
Outlook: After four finishes of fourth or higher over the previous four seasons, Hudson fell back to sixth in 2016 but also returns with a high overall score this season nearly 20 points better than at this time a year ago. Hudson’s average overall score of 720.8 ranks third in Division 4, and it won its first league title since 2011. Senior Bobbi Selix made the all-state second team last season, and junior Shiann Martinus earned an honorable mention.
MICHIGAN CENTER
Rank: No. 6.
League finish: First in Cascades Conference.
Coach: Jessica Trefry, 16th season.
Championship history: Five Division 4 titles (most recent 2014), one runner-up finish.
Top score: 758.68 at the Regional.
Team composition: 20 total (four seniors, seven juniors, six sophomores, three freshmen).
Outlook: Michigan Center improved from third in 2015 to second last winter, and that Regional score is the second-highest overall score in the division this season; the Cardinals’ round high scores all rank among the top four as well. They’ve cleared 740 points in three of their last four competitions. Sophomore Ayana Santana made the all-state first team last season, while senior Kamryn Barrett made the second team and senior Bethany Thrall and sophomore Carlee Lally earned honorable mentions.
PEWAMO-WESTPHALIA
Rank: No. 7.
League finish: Does not compete in a league.
Coach: Staci Myers, 10th season.
Championship history: Eight MHSAA titles (most recent 2010), 10 runner-up finishes.
Top score: 744.92.
Team composition: 12 total (three seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, three freshmen).
Outlook: The Pirates remain one of the most accomplished cheer programs in MHSAA history and bounced back this winter after missing the Finals by two places at their Regional in 2016. Their average total score of 718.5 ranks fourth in the division, and P-W has broken 720 points in five straight events. Senior Nicole Schafer made the all-region second team in 2016, and senior Bailey Fandel earned an honorable mention.
SHELBY
Rank: Unranked.
League finish: First in West Michigan Conference.
Coach: Penny Grinage-Guy, 19th season.
Championship history: Seeking first MHSAA Finals top-two finish.
Top score: 733.44 at Regional.
Team composition: 18 total (four seniors, five juniors, three sophomores, six freshmen).
Outlook: Shelby jumped a spot from eighth in 2015 to seventh last season and has improved significantly over their last five competitions, breaking 679 four times after topping out at 661 prior. Shelby shines in Round 3, where its top score this season (304.2) ranks seventh in the division. Senior Calee Monroe made the all-region second team last winter, and junior Makenzie Allen earned honorable mention.
PHOTO: Farwell is one of six teams returning from last season’s Division 4 Finals.
Sword-Sharpened Addison Joins D4 Elite
February 14, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
Jenica Sword would like nothing more than to finish her high school competitive cheer career with an MHSAA Finals championship.
If she does, she’ll probably have to defeat her grandmother.
“We have a friendly competition,” said the Addison senior. “But we definitely want to beat each other.”
Here’s the situation: Jenica competes in competitive cheer for Addison Community Schools, located just off US-127 only a few miles from the Ohio state line and in the heart of the Irish Hills area. Her mother, Jessica Sword, is the Panthers’ head coach and has been since Jenica was in kindergarten at Addison.
Jessica’s mother is Kelly Bailey, who has been the head coach of the Hudson competitive cheer team since Jessica was a high school senior there in the late 1990s.
Hudson’s not just any competitive cheer program. It’s one of the most successful in state history. In fact, Bailey has led Hudson to the Finals for 19 consecutive seasons, her team finishing runner-up in Class C-D in 2006 and in Division 4 in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2017 before winning the title in 2018. The Tigers were back on the podium last year, finishing second behind champion Pewamo-Westphalia.
Hudson and Addison not only are both in Division 4, they are located just 10 miles apart and compete in the same MHSAA District and Regional. When the postseason begins next week, Hudson and Addison will be among the favorites at the Feb. 21 District at Vandercook Lake.
Needless to say, cheer has some deep family roots. Bailey was a sideline cheerleader in high school at Onsted, during the era before the MHSAA created competitive cheer as a sponsored tournament sport. Onsted won a statewide competition her senior year.
When her daughters were young, she got them into cheerleading.
“I cheered all the way through school,” said Sword. “I guess it goes back to Pop Warner football days. I was a cheerleader then. My mom became our coach when I was a senior in high school. As soon as I graduated, I coached middle school and the JV at Hudson. I was an assistant with my mom for seven years.
“Cheerleading is very ingrained in our family, that’s for sure.”
When Sword’s daughter started school at Addison, Sword got a teaching job at the school and was named the varsity head coach for the Panthers. One of her first objectives was to start a youth cheerleading program. Her daughter and six other members of the current Addison Panthers team were in kindergarten that year.
“They didn’t have a program at the time,” Sword said. “I began right away to implement lots of different things, like camps and performances. The girls would go out and cheer at halftime of basketball games. I wanted to build the program up from the bottom.”
While it was a work in progress then, Addison has put together a strong program. Two years ago – the year Hudson won Division 4 – the Panthers also made it to the Grand Rapids Delta Plex for the Finals, finishing sixth overall in their first-ever trip to the season’s final competition. Last February, Addison placed fifth in the Regional at Mason, just 14 points from qualifying for the Finals. Hudson was the Regional champ.
“The girls were extremely disappointed,” Sword said. “I had one of the older girls say to the team this year that she doesn’t want this year’s freshmen to ever experience that disappointment.
“These girls this year have really strong personalities, and my seniors are great leaders. They were very disappointed. A week after the season ended, they were ready to get back in there and start working.”
The Panthers have come out firing this winter, finishing first at their own invitational plus events hosted by Homer and Michigan Center. This week, Addison won the Cascades Conference championship. It was the school’s first-ever conference title in competitive cheer.
That was no easy task. To accomplish it, Addison had to dethrone Michigan Center, another traditional powerhouse in the sport.
“Michigan Center is a dynasty,” Sword said. “They’ve won every conference championship since 2006. To take that away from them was a big deal.”
The Panthers are an experienced group. Of 20 athletes on the current squad, 11 are juniors and seniors.
“They just work hard,” Sword said. “I tell them every day how talented they are, but hard work can sometimes beat talent. You’ve got to put the work in, too. This group gets it. Mentally, they come in every day and want to work hard. They want to lift and just get better. They are very focused. I can officially say this is the best group we’ve ever had at Addison.”
One of the secrets to this team’s success is the closeness among the athletes and their coach. Sword, now a professor at Adrian College, has been working with most of them since they were in grade school.
“It’s a huge part of the dynamic,” she said. “I think of these girls as my own. I’ve been a part of their lives growing up. I think they see me as a second mom as well.”
Another dynamic, of course, is the competition – Hudson.
“It can be hard,” Sword said of going up against her mother. “We don’t talk much during a meet when we compete against each other. There have been times where I want to talk to her about something but then it’s like, ‘Oh, wait, my mom is my competition.’
“She does give me some feedback. And, I always appreciate what she has to say. She knows her stuff.”
Having Jenica compete for Addison adds another dynamic to it all. The senior said she’s grown used to seeing her grandmother on the other side of the gym. No matter who the competition is, Jenica said, she and the rest of the Panthers are determined to finish strong.
“We’ve worked so hard for this. Everyone wants it,” she said. “We are all very close, like best friends. It’s much easier to lead your team when you are friends than if you are enemies.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Addison seniors Christina Bailey, Bree Lampe, Abigail Zacharias, Chloe Leonard, Jenica Sword, Christin Conley and Morgan Fletcher. (Middle) The Panthers on Tuesday locked up their first Cascades Conference championship. (Photos courtesy of the Addison competitive cheer program.)