Excitement built for Cedar Springs competitive cheer fans and coach Pamela Ingles as they witnessed their Varsity team win the Lake Michigan Competitive Cheer Officials Association Scholarship Invitational last Saturday, January 30 at East Kentwood.
The Lady Red Hawks Varsity team once again came out on top, and broke their own record round three score for the year. The girls came from behind Grand Rapids-Christian in round one to take the lead in rounds two and three, bringing their total score to 739.5674 for the win.
The Cedar Springs Red Hawks Varsity competitive cheer team took first place at the LMCCOA scholarship invitational last weekend. Senior Dakotah Dombak was awarded a scholarship from the event.
Behind Cedar was Kenowa Hills-2nd, Byron Center-3rd, Sparta-4th, Mona Shores-5th, Grand Rapids-Christian-6th, Holland Christian-7th, and Reeths-Puffer 8th.
The team was happy with their performance. Senior Ashley Bout said, “Saturday was amazing because we practiced like champions all week and it paid off in the end…first place!”
Coach Pam Ingles was also pleased with their performance. “Saturday’s LMCCOA Scholarship was a great competition for two reasons,” said Ingles. “One, it was similar to a mini-district competition because we will be competing against a lot of the same teams in a couple of weeks for the District competition, so it was good for us to see how we finished among those teams. Two, it was a scholarship competition that seniors who were competing that day could apply for. We were lucky to have one of our seniors, Dakotah Dombak, be a recipient of one of the seven scholarships awarded,” she explained.
Money collected from team entry fees, spectator fees, a percentage from vendors and t-shirt sales went toward a total of seven scholarships, for which several seniors from each of the 20 Varsity teams applied. Dombak was one of the seniors awarded a scholarship of $1000.00. “I was so happy to receive one of the scholarships. It wasn’t just the fact that it was money much needed for college, but it was also the great feeling that came along with this recognition,” she said.
Other winners were Andrea Kober (Sparta), Michelle Holwerda (Grand Rapids Christian), Alexa Keene (Comstock Park), Michelle Grooters (Zeeland West), Samantha Dalton (Mona Shores) and Katie Katie Mahynski (Hudsonville). Haley Vos (Comstock Park) was the sole recipient of the $1,500.00 Randy Orr memorial scholarship.
The JV finished second in their Junior Varsity competition. “I am proud of these girls. We have had a few injuries this week but they always fight through adversities and pull through every time!” said coach Anna Ramirez.
Both teams were scheduled to compete on Wednesday, February 3, at Coopersville.
