Hudson Completes Championship Climb

March 3, 2018

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half

GRAND RAPIDS – The Hudson competitive cheer team has been a staple at the MHSAA Finals for nearly two decades with 19 appearances, including 18 straight.

But the Tigers had been unable to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

A long time in the making, Hudson’s perseverance finally paid off when it captured that seemingly elusive Division 4 title Saturday at the DeltaPlex.   

The Tigers delivered three solid rounds en route to a season-high 769.26 total and the program’s first Finals victory.

Sanford Meridian (756.86) edged Adrian Madison (756.56) for runner-up honors by three tenths of a point.

“I knew it was going to be when the opportunity came,” Hudson coach Kelly Bailey said. “We’ve had great teams in the past, and I knew one time luck would meet with our opportunity, and we would do it. This was the year, and we had a great group of girls.”

The Tigers placed runner-up at the Finals five times, including three straight years from 2008-2010.

They finished a close second again last season to Breckenridge, which didn’t field a team this year after winning three consecutive Finals.

“I’m on cloud nine right now,” Hudson senior Payge Leathers said. “The feeling is unexplainable. This is my fourth year at the state finals, but finally breaking through and winning a state title has been the most overwhelming and exciting experience of my life.”

The Tigers, who won the Lenawee County Athletic Association crown, were ranked No. 5 entering the postseason.

“I knew it from the beginning this year,” Hudson senior Shiann Martinus said. “We clicked so well all year, and I’ve never had a team so bonded.  We all wanted the same goal and we did anything to get it, and we got it.

“We were three points away last year so we definitely didn’t want to cut it close this year, and we practiced like crazy.”

Hudson held a slim two-point lead entering the final round, but pulled away from the field with an impressive Round 3.

It capped the meet with a high score of 316.60, eight points better than the next closest team.

“They did a fabulous job in Round 3, and you can’t ask for anything more,” Bailey said. “They were under the most pressure they could be going last and everybody had stuck their cheers. There was two points separating us, and they nailed it.”

Bailey took a different approach to this year’s Finals and didn’t put extra pressure on the team with high expectations.

“We tried to really focus on celebrating our year today, that it wasn’t a competition,” she said. “It was a celebration of our year from the start, and we really focused on having fun. All the work was over, and this is what the hard work was for. They just needed to have a blast today.”

The squad, which featured five seniors, didn’t concentrate on anything but its own effort.

“The whole time nobody focused on a state title,” Martinus said. “We focused on going out to do our best. This (title) comes with it when you do your best.”

Sanford Meridian also had a breakthrough performance in earning its first top-two finish at the Finals.

This was the Mustangs’ third appearance, and they didn’t qualify last year after placing sixth at Regionals.

“We knew we could either take it or be within the top three,” longtime Sanford Meridian coach Val MacKenzie said. “I think our goal was met, and it was a goal we constantly worked toward.”

The Mustangs, who had no seniors on the roster, jumped into contention with a stellar Round 2 that accumulated the highest score of the day, 224.16.

“The girls have worked really hard this year and we’ve really concentrated on our Round 2 with our tumbling and getting back tucks, because we knew that’s what it was going to take to get us where we needed to be,” MacKenzie said. “I’m very proud of how they bought into the program, and they are so dedicated. They are just a good bunch of girls.”

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PHOTOS: (Top) Hudson performs a routine on the way to winning the Division 4 title Saturday. (Middle) Sanford Meridian raises its runner-up trophy after its first top-two finish.

With Focus on Returning to MHSAA Finals, T-K Soars to Impressive Start

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

January 20, 2022

MIDDLEVILLE – Thornapple-Kellogg senior Anna Benedict remembers competing in Rocket Cheer when she was in elementary school and looking up to the varsity cheerleaders who were there helping her.

Those same girls made it to the MHSAA Finals in competitive cheer, and Benedict aspired one day to reach the same level as her role models.

“I was coached by those girls, and as a little girl that was my dream,” Benedict said. “I wanted to go to the state finals when I was in the cheer program, and it would be so awesome to be back there.”

The Trojans haven’t appeared in the Finals since 2015, when they placed fifth in Division 2, but they are currently in the process of changing that.

A successful start to this season has created a belief that a return to the Finals is within reach.

“There is so much motivation,” T-K senior Zoey Thomas said. “We practice in the big gym and we have all our banners with the different sports, and that is one of our biggest motivations.

“Our coach will point up at the banners and will talk about adding years to conference, Districts, Regionals and state.”

Thomas, a three-sport athlete like many on the team, wants to end her time at the school competing with the best in the state.

“We haven’t been there since 2015, and personally, one of my goals is to end my high school career by going to state in one of my three sports,” Thomas said. “It would be so cool to go for competitive cheer my senior year.”

While the Finals are still more than six weeks away, the Trojans are on an upward trajectory.

T-K is perfect so far this season, the latest win coming in Wednesday’s first Ottawa-Kent Conference Gold jamboree.

The Trojans also won their own invitational last weekend by producing season-high scores in every round.

Prior to that, they captured victories at the West Catholic Invitational and Blue Devil Invitational.

Middleville Thornapple Kellogg competitive cheer“We’ve had a strong start for sure, and we are just trying to keep the momentum moving throughout the season and into Districts, hopefully Regionals and even going for the state finals,” T-K coach Adrian Sinkler said. “The biggest thing I keep telling them is to be consistent and just go out and have fun. We have to have stronger performances every time, and so far they’ve definitely done that.”

Fourteen athletes make up this year’s team, led by six experienced seniors.

Other key standouts include seniors Ruby Frei and Aundria Robbe, junior Presley Hall and sophomores Mali Holland, Kenady Smith and Ava Jahnke.

“We are not a school that goes to the state finals every year,” Benedict said. “So it would be cool to show that we can do it. Our season has played out well so far, and we all want it so bad. This team is willing to try anything to try and do it.”

The Trojans currently have the fourth-highest score (719.9) in Division 2, but they are not settling.

“We’ve had good success so far, but we have to continue to put in the work and not get comfortable,” Benedict said. “We have to understand that nothing will be given. Every competition is different, and you can’t predict anything. We can’t stop working hard and we just have to better ourselves.”

Added Thomas: “It took a lot of work to get to this point, and it’s not something that has come easy. It’s been hours upon hours of just cleaning, fixing and changing things. It’s been grueling work, but absolutely worth it, and it’s paid off so far. We're not done yet.”

Sinkler has an invested interest in the program as an alumnus.

She was a member of the first Trojans team to qualify for the Finals in 2012.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been there, and we’re trying to get them to go back,” Sinkler said. “They mesh really well and get along while also keeping each other in check, respectfully.

“They are different kids, and they are very calm, collected and very coachable. That keeps them pushing for something bigger. We have a big senior class and this is their last shot, so they want to leave a legacy and leave their seeds of knowledge back to the underclassmen.”

T-K has been solid in all three rounds, but especially its third.

A few tweaks have been made to improve the complexity and energy in that round, and it’s led to an enhanced confidence level.

“We made some changes a few weeks ago because we just weren’t loving the ending of it,” Sinkler said. “As a coach, it just didn’t do it for me and it didn’t give me that ‘wow,’ so we changed it. It’s definitely worked in our favor.”

Benedict said the third round has become the Trojans’ favorite.

“We’ve gotten better since the changes, and we’ve added a lot of difficulty,” she said. “As the round goes on, the stunts get more difficult, and that’s what makes it so good and so fun to watch.”

Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four 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 (Top) Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg celebrates its championship at its invitational Saturday. (Middle) The Trojans are seeking to reach their first MHSAA Finals in competitive cheer since 2015. (Photos courtesy of the T-K competitive cheer program.)