Revived Breckenridge Returns to Elite
March 7, 2015
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – The rebuilding process has been completed for the Breckenridge competitive cheer team.
After six years without a program due to low numbers, the Huskies returned to the top after dominating Saturday’s Division 4 Competitive Cheer Final at The DeltaPlex.
The Huskies finished with a three-round score of 754.1 and collected their eighth MHSAA title in school history.
Pewamo-Westphalia placed runner-up at 730.40, while Michigan Center’s streak of four Finals titles in a row ended with its third-place finish (726.02).
“We all knew that our goal was to win another state championship and we completely exceeded our expectations of this year,” all-state sophomore Alexandria Gillis said. “And we’re all really proud of each other.”
Breckenridge was able to compete with a full varsity squad last season for the first time in seven years and advanced to the Finals, where they placed fifth.
Deb Gaines, who co-coached with Jenna Graham, guided the team to its last Finals title in 2007 before the hiatus.
“I retired and went back to recruiting at the lower levels to start it back up,” Gaines said. “We kind of ran out of girls, the middle school program kind of fizzled and we just didn’t have enough high school kids at that point.
“We started rebuilding all those years ago, and now they’ve grown up and here we are. It’s a great feeling, and they did great. We still have a pretty young team.”
Breckenridge set the tone early and posted the Final’s high scores in every round en route to a comfortable advantage.
It scored 229.10 in Round 1 and 216.46 in Round 2. The Pirates capped off the day with a 308.70 in Round 3.
“We knew it was going to be our last performance, so we wanted to go out there and give it our all and leave it all on the mat,” Gillis said. “Leave no doubts that we didn’t do everything we could do. We went out there and fought for it.”
The Huskies led P-W by almost 15 points entering the final round, a sizable margin built by a pair of nearly flawless routines.
“When we make up our cheers, it’s all about the meaning of the cheer and what they’re saying,” Gaines said. “You mean what you say and say what you mean, and vocally they really pushed that out and everything else followed. They gained a lot of confidence the last three weeks starting at Districts and into Regionals. We saw it coming and coming.”
Graham said the final round proved to be the icing on the cake.
“We’ve had a strong Round 3 all season so they knew when the time came, if we hit it, we were going to get there,” Graham said. “They did awesome.”
It was the 10th Finals runner-up finish in school history for P-W, but it was a satisfying accomplishment after narrowly missing the Finals last season by one spot at Regionals.
The Pirates placed runner-up three straight years (2011-13) after winning the Division 4 Final in 2010.
“They were super excited, determined and worked very hard all year to get here again,” P-W coach Staci Myers said. “It was a goal just to make it and let the chips fall where they may. They just wanted to come today and perform to the best of their ability, and they were going to let where we fell where we fell.”
Myers said this year’s group, led by six seniors, improved as the season progressed.
“We did the best we could in every round (today) and they’ve improved every week,” she said. “This is the best they’ve done all year long, and they definitely peaked at the right time. We’re really proud of them for working so hard these last two weeks and just to get here has been amazing.”
Breckenridge will have the luxury of returning everyone next season in its bid to repeat. There were no seniors on this year’s team.
Instead, seven juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen paved the way.
“It’s an amazing feeling to know that everybody’s going to be back because we can get stronger with the same people we’ve had,” Gillis said.
Click for full results.
PHOTOS: (Top) Breckenridge cheerleaders hoist their championship trophy Saturday. (Middle) Pewamo-Westphalia added another top Finals finish at this season’s Division 4 meet.
Stoney Creek Finishes as Best from Rochester, Best in all of Division 1
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2024
MOUNT PLEASANT – “The Rochester Invitational,” an event also known as the Division 1 Competitive Cheer Finals, proved Friday how a great rivalry pushes everyone to be their best.
The MHSAA represents schools covering more than 96,000 square miles in Michigan, but the Division 1 battle came down to three Rochester Community Schools all located within four miles of each other – Rochester, Rochester Adams and Rochester Hills Stoney Creek.
The teams have tussled at the Oakland Activities Association Red level, followed by District, Regional and Finals for years, with the difference between them often coming down to a tenth of a point, or less.
Rochester Adams won the Finals for the third-straight year in 2022, Rochester took the title last year and, appropriately enough, Stoney Creek led from start-to-finish and won Friday at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena.
“Today was our day, and it feels great,” said Stoney Creek senior Charlotte Cahill. “It’s so tough. All three of our teams have experienced the close losses and the wins. It’s three great teams, and it comes down to the little, tiny, minute details.”
Stoney Creek finished with a three-round score of 792.98 - good for a 1.42-point margin of victory over second-place Adams (791.56), with Rochester a mere two-tenths of a point further back in third at 791.36.
The Cougars captured their third Finals title, after winning most recently in 2019.
The competition was close throughout, with Stoney Creek holding the lead going into the pivotal third round, but with both Rochester and Adams less than two points behind.
McGuirk Arena was absolutely rocking with more than 3,000 fans as the three Rochester schools went back-to-back-to-back in the third round – first Stoney Creek, then Adams, then Rochester – to decide the title.
All three delivered nearly flawless performances, executing every stunt and basket toss with precision, with every flyer strong at the top.
“What you have to understand is that it’s not like this just at state,” said Stoney Creek coach Tricia Williams, who is in her 21st season. “We do this on almost a weekly basis, so we feel this same pressure and we get better at learning how to handle it. Today, our girls handled it wonderfully.”
Adams actually posted the best score of the three schools in the final round, which was enough to leapfrog 2023 champion Rochester for second place but not enough to overtake Stoney Creek, which was slightly better than Adams in both Round 1 and Round 2.
“There’s a lot of attention on Round 3, but it takes all three rounds,” explained Williams, who is assisted by Andrea Cairns, Kayla Kenan, Jessica Ma and Susan Wood. “Against this good of competition, we have to be as perfect as we can in every round.”
While some cheer teams check the standings between each round and possibly adjust their strategy accordingly, the Cougars absolutely do not look at the scores.
“That’s one of our values as a team is not knowing the score,” explained senior Abby DeGraw. “We don’t think it makes sense to change the way that we’re performing. We just try to do our best each round and let the score take care of itself.”
That strategy worked to perfection Friday, as Stoney Creek went out with wins at Regionals and Finals after finishing second in the conference behind Rochester and second at Districts behind Adams. The Cougars’ winning score of 792.98 on Friday was just shy of their season-best of 793.56, which was good for second place at Districts.
Seniors Alison Kalaj and DeGraw, both returning all-staters, are two of the leaders for Stoney Creek, along with Cahill (second team in 2023) and Ariana Rabaut (honorable mention).
Other seniors for the Cougars were Kacey Bauer, Gracie Darling, Sofia Finazzo, Lily Leone, Laura Machak, Helena Merritt and Jane Stabnick.
Adams, which took home the runner-up trophy for the second-straight year after a three-peat as champions from 2020 to 2022, nearly roared back for the title with the best Round 3 score (322.10).
“I would say that was our best Round 3, not only of the season, but in years,” said 10th-year Adams coach Brooke Miller, who had just five seniors and just one returning all-state honoree in Lily Hittle (honorable mention). “They nailed it. They couldn’t have done any more.”
Miller and Williams exchanged a hug after the awards ceremony, full of mutual respect, and both expect the three-way Rochester rivalry to continue for the foreseeable future.
“The bottom line is that these three schools are pushing each other to be amazing,” said Miller. “It’s tenths of a point that you’re fighting for, and that forces you to be the best coach and the best athlete that you can be.”
Hartland placed fourth, followed by Macomb L’Anse Creuse North and Brighton.
PHOTOS (Top) Rochester Hills Stoney Creek competes during Friday’s Division 1 Finals at McGuirk Arena. (Middle) The Cougars celebrate their championship. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)