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Backstage state pass: Rochester Stoney Creek, Rochester, Lake Orion earn way to final day

Dan Stickradt | February 29, 2012 | Comments (1)

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

LAKE ORION — Stress is not the word for it.

A total 12 teams, six ranked schools and only four coveted slots for the Division 1 competitive cheer state finals available.

Any mathematician will tell you that the odds are impossible that every quality team would gain its backstage pass for the state finals.

When the dust settled on the Lake Orion mats after a highly-stressful Division 1 competitive cheer regional, it was Rochester Stoney Creek, Southgate Anderson, Rochester and Lake Orion that earned rock star status — the right to advance to the D-1 state finals March 2 at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids.

“It was nerve-wracking,” admitted Stoney Creek coach Tricia Williams, whose team qualified for the state finals for the fifth straight time and sixth overall. “To have this many good teams here in one regional, it was all about getting through to the state finals. I am pleased because we had a good day at the right time.”

Good day might be an understatement.

Stoney Creek entered the regional ranked 10^thand one of six schools in this field that were ranked in the top 10 at the time — the others being Rochester (No. 3), Sterling Heights Stevenson (No. 4), Southgate Anderson (No. 5), Rochester Adams (No. 8) and Lake Orion (No. 9). Stoney Creek scored a state-best 815.7936 points, breaking the school record, to lead the way. Southgate Anderson followed in second (814.7208), Rochester was third (811.7296) and Lake Orion fourth (808.0352) in the tightly-contested field to gain state finals access.

REASON TO CHEER: Rochester Stoney Creek captured its second regional title in three years Saturday, scoring 815.7936 points to finish ahead of five other state-ranked schools. Photo | Dan Stickradt

Less than a point separated the top four teams entering the final round and just over four points separated the top six schools heading into the stunt round. Southgate Anderson had 490.8208 points entering Round III, while Stoney Creek (490.5936), Lake Orion (490.5352), Rochester (490.0296), Adams (488.9008) and Stevenson (486.6232) were all jumbled up in a tight meet.

Stoney Creek ended up having the best effort in Round III, collecting 325.2 points to vault them to the regional championship. Southgate (323.9), Rochester (321.7), Stevenson (320.2), Lake Orion (319.5) and Adams (307.2) followed suit.

In the final team standings, Sterling Heights Stevenson (806.8232) and Rochester Adams (796.1008) were the two state-ranked teams that were left on the outside looking in at the state finals. Warren Cousino (785.1192), Livonia Churchill (765.4650), Saline (762.0432), Macomb Dakota (756.3460), Utica Ford II (749.8740) and Plymouth Canton (744.5006) rounded out the total team scores.

“I still think we can perform better. There are some little teaks here and there and we can be crisper in a few areas, but we have performed well the last couple of weeks,” offered Williams. “Now, we have to work hard for the state finals and see what we can do. I think if we can perform at a high level, than we have as good of a chance as anybody. There isn’t really a favorite because all eight of the teams there have competed against each other several times this season and we’ve kind of taken turns.”

Rochester saw its stretch of 29 consecutive seasons of making a state finals come to a crashing end last season, as a third-round fall bumped the Falcons into fifth at the regional despite a fine season with multiple invitational wins. Rochester was fifth after the opening round this season but recovered with a runner-up finish in Round II and a third-place showing in Round III.

“Our goal was to get back and we knew it was going to be extremely difficult to do so with all of the good teams here,” said veteran Rochester coach Susan Wood. “We had that bad Round III last season and that really hurt us. The girls were devastated. But we performed good enough to get through to the state finals. It will be less stressful now being there.”

Lake Orin coach Nancy DeAvila was concerned after she learned that one of her athletes stepped off the mat in the third round and knew the Dragons had a penalty coming.

“I didn’t even see it, but my assistant coach told me about it and that made for intense moments at the end of the competition,” said DeAvila, who has seen her team qualify several times over the years and also just miss the cut in other years. “When we found out we were fourth, we were elated because we knew that it could have been any one of the six ranked teams who didn’t get through and I felt bad for Stevenson and Adams because they both had outstanding years.

“I t was a stressful week to say the least,” continued DeAvila.”I have never seen anything like it — six ranked teams in one region. I think the girls are relieved that they performed well enough to get through. Now, we can just work on tightening up our routines. The hard part is just getting there.”

Competitive Cheer

DIVISION 1 REGIONAL

(Feb. 25 at Lake Orion)

TOTAL TEAM SCORES — 1. Rochester Stoney Creek, 815.7936; 2. Southgate Anderson, 814.7208; 3. Rochester, 811.7296; 4. Lake Orion, 808.0352;5. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 806.8232; 6. Rochester Adams, 796.1008; 7. Warren Cousino, 785.1192; 8. Livonia Churchill, 765.4650; 9. Saline, 762.0432; 10. Macomb Dakota, 756.3460; 11. Utica Ford II, 749.8740; 12. Plymouth Canton, 744.5006.

ROUND I — 1. Lake Orion, 235.1; 2. (tie) Rochester Stoney Creek, 234.8; Southgate Anderson, 234.4; 4. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 234.4; 5. Rochester, 234.0; 6. Rochester Adams, 233.8; 7. Warren Cousino, 228.1; 8.Saline, 225.9; 9. Utica Ford II, 222.6; 10. Livonia Churchill, 221.9; 11. Macomb Dakota, 220.4; 12. Plymouth Canton, 218.8.

ROUND II — 1. Southgate Anderson, 256.4208; 2. Rochester, 256.0296; 3. Rochester Stoney Creek, 255.7936; 4. Lake Orion, 255.4352; 5. Rochester Adams, 255.1008; 6. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 252.2232; 7. Warren Cousino, 243.2192; 8. Livonia Chruchill, 238.3650; 9. Macomb Dakota, 230.4460; 10. Saline, 229.2432; 11. Utica Ford II, 228.4740; 12. Plymouth Canton, 226.8006.

ROUND III — 1. Rochester Stoney Creek, 325.2; 2. Southgate Anderson, 323.9; 3. Rochester, 321.7; 4. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 320.2; 5. Lake Orion, 319.5; 6. Warren Cousino, 313.8; 7. Rochester Adams, 207.2; 8. Saline, 306.9; 9. Macomb Dakota, 305.5; 10. Livonia Churchill, 305.2; 11. Plymouth Canton, 298.9; 12. Utica Ford II, 298.8.

DIVISION 1 REGIONAL

(Feb. 25 at East Kentwood)

TOTAL TEAM SCORES — 1. Hartland, 804.7200; 2. Hudsonville, 801.2960; 3. Grandville, 799.8152; 8. East Kentwood, 798.7520; 5. Holland West Ottawa, 789.8328; 6. Brighton, 776.4454; 7. Walled Lake Western, 741.9064; 8. Oxford, 730.6616; 9. Midland Dow, 729.9580; 10. Bay City Central, 727.4404; 11. Davison, 726.0704; 12. North Farmington, 723.0704.

ROUND I — 1. East Kentwood, 233.3; 2. Hartland, 230.9; 3. Grandville, 230.1; 4. Hudsonville, 230.0; 5. Holland West Ottawa, 228.7; 6. Brighton, 226.1; 7. Walled Lake Western, 220.5; 8. Midland Dow, 219.9; 9. Davison; 10. Oxford, 218.6; 11. North Farmington, 217.7; 12. Bay City Central, 213.1.

ROUND II — 1. Hartland, 251.8200; 2. Grandville, 251.0152; 3. Holland West Ottawa, 250.2328; 4. East Kentwood, 250.0520; 5. Hudsonville, 248.5960; 6. Brighton, 237.6454; 7. Davison, 228.4982; 8. Bay City Central, 221.9404; 9. Walled Lake Western, 221.7064; 10. Oxford, 217.6616; 11. Midland Dow, 216.2580; 12. North Farmington, 215.5704.

ROUND III — 1. Hudsonville, 322.7; 2. Hartland, 322.0; 3. Grandville, 318.7; 4. East Kentwood, 315.4; 5.Brighton, 312.7; 6. Holland West Ottawa, 310.8; 7. Walled Lake Western, 299.7; Oxford, 294.4; 9. Midland Dow, 293.8; 10. Bay City Central, 292.4; 11. North Farmington, 289.8; 12. Davison, 279.5.

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