Soaring Stevenson Building On Big Finish
February 13, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The best parts of last season never really ended for the Sterling Heights Stevenson competitive cheer team.
And to look at it another way, this season’s fabulous run got its start during the closing weeks of last year’s march to a Division 1 runner-up finish.
With only one senior a year ago, Stevenson came in second to champion Rochester, after taking third at the MHSAA Finals in 2016 and seventh in 2015.
But taking that next step was only part of the motivation for the Titans – the MHSAA/Applebee’s statewide “Team of the Month” for January. Just as important was a commitment made two weeks before last season’s championship meet, when a group of leaders – including many who are now finishing four-year varsity careers – told the rest of their teammates they would all be coming back this winter, and they would pick right back up where they left off.
“We used that right from the start this season,” said coach Brianna Verdoodt, who is in her 13th season leading the program. “We’ve pushed just as hard as last season, but this year is cool. We can be super intense, but we have so many more opportunities to love on them too, which is what you go into coaching to do. This year is the most fun year of coaching I’ve had because of that.”
Stevenson enters Saturday’s District at Warren Mott with the top scores in Division 1 this season for every round – 238.3, 233.4 and 322.1, respectively – and overall at 792.2. The top-ranked Titans’ average score of 785.3 is nine points better than the second-highest in Division 1 and more than four points higher than any team in any division this winter.
And they owned January. First came a Division 1-2 and overall win at the Richmond Invitational, where they scored 10 more points than the reigning Division 3 runner-up Blue Devils. Stevenson bested the field at its Titan Invitational on Jan. 20, finishing three points ahead of current No. 3-ranked Rochester Adams in Division 1 and posting the highest score against an overall field that also included reigning Division 3 champ Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Richmond and Division 2 No. 5 Southgate Anderson.
A week later, Stevenson won the Lake Orion Invitational, finishing 2.5 points better than runner-up Rochester in the Division 1 competition and posting the top score regardless of division against a field that again included Notre Dame Prep, plus reigning Division 2 champion Allen Park and runner-up Gibraltar Carlson.
But it was actually part of a second-place showing to start the season that added another rev to the Titans’ drive this winter. Stevenson finished second at its first competition, the Troy Invitational on Dec. 9, but Verdoodt posted her team’s three rounds on Facebook – and the Round 1 has more than 1 million views, tons of positive comments and shares that took the routine all over the world.
Verdoodt thinks another second-place finish has come right at the right time as well. Although the Titans clinched the Macomb Area Conference Red championship, they finished second to No. 7-ranked Warren Cousino in the final league competition last week.
The next day’s practice was the team’s best practice all season, Verdoodt said.
“It brought it back home for them – they haven’t won anything yet, nothing that matters,” Verdoodt said. “It was wonderful. It needed to happen, and I’d rather it happen now.”
Last year’s pep talk helped take the pressure off heading into the biggest meets because nearly the entire team would have another chance to compete together. This team of 22 athletes includes 10 seniors – and after having to press some directly into varsity action from junior high last winter, Verdoodt has been able to get more creative because of her team’s added strength and experience.
Lily Juncaj, Izzie Nitecki, Grace Broadworth and Carolina Poliss are all seniors who made the all-state first team last season, and total nine athletes from last year's team earned some level of all-state recognition.
The perspective will be different this time with so many seniors finishing their high school careers – and the opportunity to win the first cheer championship in school history surely will be a motivator in the three weeks to come.
“They just get it. They all knew what it felt like to take second place in the state, coming from a team that if you’d seen at the beginning of (last) season – Good Lord,” Verdoodt said. “They were so excited about that.
“But then they kinda realized, ‘Hey, we can actually do this.’”
Past Teams of the Month, 2017-18
December: Cadillac boys bowling - Report
November: Ottawa Lake Whiteford football - Report
October: Beaverton volleyball - Report
September: Shepherd girls golf - Report
PHOTO: (Top) The Sterling Heights Stevenson competitive cheer team has 22 athletes, including 10 seniors. (Photos courtesy of the Stevenson cheer program.)
Gibraltar Carlson Conquers D2 Again
March 2, 2019
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – Nothing can slow down the Gibraltar Carlson competitive cheer dynasty.
The Marauders – who had won 10 MHSAA titles, including seven of the past eight in Division 2 – came into this season with a first-year coach and just three seniors.
No worries, as the young Carlson team notched title No. 11 with a powerhouse performance Saturday morning in the Division 2 Finals at the Delta Plex.
“We are motivated to keep the dynasty alive, for all the girls that came before and those that are to come,” said first-year coach Ann Hajec, who was a first-team all-stater on Carlson’s 2013 championship team. “We knew it would be close again with Allen Park, it has been all year, but we had enough in Round 3 to pull it out.”
Hajec said the emotions of the Finals are similar as a coach to those she felt as a competitor.
“The heart and fire I feel are the same, but I just have to put it into the girls,” said Hajec, who is assisted by Jordyn Hodge, Tam Christiansen, Emily Howard and Kourtney Tyra.
Carlson got off to a great start in Round 1, then clinched the title with a dominating Round 3, where years of tradition and great expectations came together in a powerful finish. The Marauders won with a three-round total of 791.40.
Pushing Carlson to greater heights, as it has all season and, frankly, the past four years, was Downriver League rival Allen Park.
While Friday night’s Division 1 Finals turned into “The Battle of Rochester” (with Stoney Creek prevailing over Adams), Saturday morning quickly became “The Battle of Downriver” between Carlson and Allen Park.
The Jaguars, who bested Carlson at the conference tournament last month, used the meet’s best score in Round 2 to pull within one point heading into Round 3, but were unable to take the next step.
Allen Park took second with 787.92, followed by Muskegon Mona Shores (777.92) and Dearborn Divine Child (771.94).
It marked the third time in the past four years that Allen Park finished runner-up to Carlson. Allen Park won the championship in 2017.
“We go neck-and-neck with them all the time, so this was nothing new,” said 14th-year Allen Park coach Julie Goodwin, who said the draw, with her team going first in the crucial third round, may have played a factor in the outcome. “Going into that last round, I told them to go out and have fun and do what they do. I thought we performed very well.”
Hajec became the fifth coach to lead Carlson to a Finals championship.
Carlson’s first title came in Class B back in 1995 under Pat Christiansen. The Marauders then won four titles between 2008 and 2012 under Christina Wilson, two in 2013 and 2014 under Danielle Jokela and then three in the past four years led by Aryn Ziesmer.
Carlson’s 11 Finals championships are second in state history behind Rochester’s 14 titles. Breckenridge is third with 10.
Carlson senior Summer Bojarski, along with McKinley Gessner and Kennedy Turner, are the only seniors on this year’s Carlson team. The future continues to be bright with seven sophomores and seven freshmen on the team.
“I personally have such a satisfied feeling right now because I know I did my job and kept the dynasty going for another year,” said Bojarski. “I wanted to show the younger girls that in order to win, you have to want it more than anything else. You have to love the sport, because that energy shows when you’re out on the mat.”
Bojarski is a returning all-stater from last season, along with sophomore Maguire Lindisch. Stewart, junior Sarah Klim and sophomore Alex Stewart all made second team all-state last year, and juniors Rylee Demers and Elliah Shank were honorable mention.
Cedar Springs placed fifth, followed by DeWitt, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills and Walled Lake Western.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gibraltar Carlson performs a routine during its run to the Division 2 title Saturday morning. (Middle) Allen Park finished runner-up to the league rival Jaguars.