Stevenson Returns, Leaves as D1 Champion

March 2, 2018

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half

GRAND RAPIDS -- Sterling Heights Stevenson competitive cheer coach Brianna Verdoodt clutched the hardware in her hands as tightly as she could.

“I’m sleeping with this tonight,” Verdoodt declared after her team made school history Friday at the MHSAA Division 1 Final at the DeltaPlex.

The top-ranked Titans concluded a dominating season by winning the program’s first state championship.

Stevenson tallied a three-round total of 793.22 and outlasted runner-up Rochester Adams, which finished at 790.82.

“I could not have written a better story of how this season has gone for us,” Verdoodt said. “We lost only one senior last year, so it was first time we had literally every single girl coming back. So the year started out totally different.

“We could be tough, but still love on them, and we kept pushing just as hard because we knew that we wanted this.”

The Titans placed second to Rochester a year ago and third in 2016. Last season’s was their first runner-up finish at the Finals since 2011.

“We knew we wanted a little bit more this year,” Verdoodt said. “Last year was unexpected with nine freshmen, and making it to the state finals was huge – and runner-up was just like icing on the cake.”

Stevenson capped off an incredible season that included a Macomb Area Conference Red championship and winning all but one competition.

“This is probably the best feeling of my life,” Stevenson senior Anna Long said. “I’ve been working four years to win a state championship, and this is just the best day of my life. We were all confident that we had a shot because this is the best this team has ever been, so we knew it could be done.”

The Titans drew motivation from last year’s finish, and that experience paid off for the veteran group.

“We were so close with a young team and now we’re here, state champs,” Titans senior Carolina Poliss said. “It’s crazy to be the first because we’ve been striving for years for this, and we’re doing something Stevenson has never done before.”

Stevenson trailed Adams by two tenths of a point after Round 1, but jumped into the lead with a solid Round 2 that delivered a high score of 232.72.

All that was left was Round 3, and the Titans punctuated the win with a stirring effort that combined flexibility, strength and agility.

It resulted in another high score, 322.20.

“I was a flyer in high school and I’m crazy about flexibility and things that set us apart from other people,” Verdoodt said. “We have a couple different things in our Round 3 that look odd to a normal cheer person.

“Round 3 is just a fun one, and we hold them to really high standards for all positions so they can go out and do a performance like that under pressure.”

Long said there was a sense of calm that overtook the team before its final round.

“We’re usually nervous, but we were all really confident this time and it was a different confidence than normal,” she said. “We were all really focused, and I feel like we all knew that all we had to do was hit Round 3 and show we wanted it with heart. Then we knew we could win, because our other rounds were so strong.”

Adams’ runner-up finish was its first in more than two decades. The Highlanders placed second to Rochester in Class A in 1996.

“It feels like first; it really does,” Adams coach Brooke Miller said. “They’ve worked so hard for this, and they’ve definitely fought for everything they’ve done today.”

The Highlanders, who finished fifth last season in their first trip to the Finals in 20 years, had 10 seniors leading the way.

“They really wanted it, and they did everything they could possibly do to get it,” Miller said. “We had nothing to lose tonight, and we wanted to go out there and have fun and let these 10 seniors have the best day yet.”

Two-time reigning champion Rochester took third (789.70), while Grand Blanc and Rochester Hills Stoney Creek rounded out the top five.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Sterling Heights Stevenson hoists its first Finals championship trophy in competitive cheer. (Middle) Rochester Adams celebrates its runner-up finish. 

Title IX at 50: Competitive Cheer Gives Michigan Plenty to Cheer About

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

December 20, 2021

From its start in 1994, competitive cheer has given tens of thousands of athletes an opportunity to present an impressive array of athleticism, stunts and enthusiasm in a competitive format, while being cheered by hundreds of thousands during one of the MHSAA’s best-attended tournament sports.  

Competitive cheer has grown to include nearly 7,000 high school participants annually, with a high of nearly 7,800 in 2006-07, from more than 350 schools. The sport’s postseason, from Districts through Finals, set attendance records for 12 straight seasons through 2015, when it drew a high of 31,284 spectators across the three levels of postseason competition.

Unlike spirit formats in other states, the MHSAA’s competitive cheer format allows full teams to test their skills against each other, scoring based on difficulty and creativity among other criteria, plus the number of athletes competing for a team during each of three rounds.

Rochester High, guided during its entirety by coach Susan Wood, won the first three Class A championships and owns a record 14 Finals titles overall. Gibraltar Carlson is next with 11 titles, and Breckenridge has won 10. Grandville has won six championships, and Richmond, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Chesaning and Michigan Center all have won five.

Carlson, from 2011-16, set the record with consecutive championships, earning six straight in Division 2. Pontiac Notre Dame from 2014-18 and Rochester from 1999-2003 won five consecutive.

Rochester Adams (Division 1), Allen Park (Division 2) and Hudson (Division 4) are all enjoying current two-year championship streaks, and Richmond has won the last three Division 3 titles.

Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.

Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights

Dec. 14: Evelyn's Game Had Plenty of Magic - Read
Dec. 7: 
Council Term Ends, But Leinaar Leaves Lasting Impact - Read
Nov. 30: 
Basketball Season Ready to Add to Rich Tradition - Read
Nov. 23: 
Marysville Builds Winning Streak Yet to be Challenged - Read
Nov. 16: Wroubel Has Championed Girls School Sports from Their Start - Read
Nov. 9: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History - Read
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: 
Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: 
Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: 
Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: 
Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: 
Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read

(MHSAA file photo.)