![Gibraltar Carlson's Kaitlynn Demers cheers during competition.](/sites/default/files/2023-02/230215_Carlson_2H.png)
Performance of the Week: Gibraltar Carlson's Kaitlynn Demers
February 17, 2023
Kaitlynn Demers ♦ Gibraltar Carlson
Senior ♦ Competitive Cheer
Demers is a returning all-stater helping lead one of Michigan’s legendary programs – and the recently-crowned 2022-23 Downriver League champion. Carlson edged rival Allen Park by less than a point at the Feb. 8 league meet, scoring 781.34 to finish first in what annually is one of the strongest competitive cheer conferences in the state. The Marauders trailed the Jaguars entering Round 3, but moved ahead with a score of 318.30 – 1.7 points higher than that of the Jaguars in that round.
Carlson or Allen Park has won the last 15 Division 2 Finals championships, and Carlson finished runner-up in Division 2 both last season and in 2020 as Allen Park has won the last three titles. An all-state first-team selection last season as a junior, Demers also is a past academic all-state honoree and has been cheering since age 5. She’ll attend Grand Valley State University next and intends to major in elementary education.
@mhsaasports 📣POW: Kaitlynn Demers #performanceoftheweek #competitivecheer #cheer #cheerleader #leaguechamps #gibraltarcarlson #marauders #MHSAA #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #TikTok #mistudentaid #fyp @kkdemers ♬ Beat Automotivo Tan Tan Tan Viral - WZ Beat
Follow the MHSAA on TikTok.
MHSAA.com's "Performance of the Week" features are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
2022-23 Honorees
Feb. 9: Indya Davis, West Bloomfield basketball - Report
Feb. 2: Braydon Sorenson, Onekama skiing - Report
Jan. 26: Shayna Hruska, Iron Mountain wrestling - Report
Jan. 19: Kayla Tafanelli, Warren Woods-Tower bowling - Report
Dec. 20: Brenden Paden, Riverview Gabriel Richard hockey - Report
Dec. 16: Tuff Scott, Holton bowling - Report
Dec. 9: Macey Fegan, Standish-Sterling basketball - Report
Dec. 2: Treyton Siegert, Gladwin football - Report
Nov. 24: Lily Witte, Dexter diving - Report
Nov. 17: Navea Gauthier, Shelby volleyball - Report
Nov. 10: Derek Huisman, Holland Christian soccer - Report
Nov. 3: Thomas Westphal, New Baltimore Anchor Bay cross country - Report
Oct. 27: Justin Wickey, Colon football - Report
Oct. 20: Owen DeMuth, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood tennis - Report
Oct. 13: Mia Melendez, Ann Arbor Greenhills golf - Report
Oct. 6: Shawn Foster, Grand Ledge football - Report
Sept. 30: Hannah Smith, Temperance Bedford swimming - Report
Sept. 22: Helen Sachs, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Sept. 15: Nina Horning, Lake Orion volleyball - Report
Sept 8: Arturo Romero, Muskegon Oakridge soccer - Report
Sept. 1: Austin King, Midland Dow tennis - Report
Aug. 25: Olivia Hemmila, Troy Athens golf - Report
(Photos courtesy of Kaitlynn Demers.)
![](/sites/default/files/imported/Photos/200214_Addison_2H.jpg)
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.)