Dreams do come true.

Is it possible to make school history for Cedar Springs High School athletics two weeks in a row? When you have a team of 17 competitive cheerleaders with a team goal of advancing to the Competitive Cheer State Finals, you better believe it’s possible.

The Red Hawks won their first District Championship on February 20 at GR Christian and the girls were honored at half time of the boys basketball game on Friday night, February 26. They also advanced to the Regional Competition at Kenowa Hills on February 27, where the top 4 teams would have the honor of advancing to the State Finals to be among the top 8 in the State of Michigan for Division 2 schools.

It gave this team another week to work on cleaning up more of the small details in all 3 rounds before seeing the judges again at the Regional Competition. This competition would be much harder than the District meet since they would be competing against the top 4 teams from 2 other district competitions.

“We talked about making it difficult for the judges to deduct any points by making everything as clean and tight as we possibly could,” said Coach Pam Ingles. “We wanted to have a good start for the competition after round 1 and we did that. We were in 2nd place by eight-tenths of a point.”

After round 2, the Red Hawks took the lead and was ahead of Mount Pleasant (last year’s State runner-up finalist) by about 4.5 points. With the 3rd round left to go, the Red Hawks looked to have a good chance of advancing to the State Finals, which would be another first for the CS Cheer Team. They were hoping they would at least be in the top 4 so they could advance to State. They had a solid round 3, but would it be enough to keep Cedar in the lead against the team from Mount Pleasant that had 16 girls on the mat for round 3 compared to Cedar’s 13 girls in round 3?

The competition finished and all 12 teams were sitting on the mat with their teams waiting for the scores to be finalized. The announcer reads every team’s round 3 score first and then announces the school name. As he gets higher to the top 4 that would be advancing, the anticipation among the remaining teams grows, hoping that their name is in the top 4. After he read the 5th place team and Cedar Springs had not been announced yet, the girls and their coaches knew that they had made it!

“When the announcer stated that the 4 teams that have not yet been announced have qualified for State Finals, I looked at the seniors’ faces and not one of them had a dry eye,” said Junior Kirstin VanLoo. “We did it! We gave our 5 seniors their well deserved chance to compete at the state finals before they graduate.”

Kenowa Hills finished in 4th place, GR Christian finished in 3rd and the excitement was growing for the Red Hawks as they waited to see how they finished. Had they made school history again by keeping the lead for first place and winning the Regional Championship or had they finished in 2nd place, still very proud and excited to be going to the State Finals?

Then came the announcement. “In 2nd place with a round 3 score of 315.8, the Oilers of Mt. Pleasant. In first place and your Regional Champs with a round 3 score of 314.3, the Red Hawks of Cedar Springs!”  Once again the Cedar Springs Varsity Cheer Team made history for their program and their school. They had advanced to the state finals and they were Regional Champs, both a first for Cedar Springs.

“As a freshman on the team, I think this is an amazing opportunity for me and my teammates. I know we all have worked so incredibly hard to earn our place at school, in the community, and to earn our trip to the state finals,” said freshman Nicole Luevano.

As icing on the cake, Coach Ingles was named regional coach of the year.

The Red Hawks have one more week to prepare for the biggest competition in the state and will be among the top 8 teams.  “I’m so excited for this team to have the chance to compete at the state level,” remarked Coach Ingles. “This team has accomplished some amazing things in the last few weeks and I can’t wait to see how they do on Saturday.”

Junior Brittany Lenardson is excited, too. “All our hard work has paid off! The reality of competing at the state finals hasn’t hit me yet and probably won’t until I see that huge crowd at the Delta Plex,” she said.

Division 2 State Finals is on March 6 at 4:30 at the Delta Plex in Grand Rapids. Doors open at 3:30 for spectators and tickets are $7.00.

These youth wrestlers medaled at Allendale on February 21.

Cedar Springs Youth Wrestlers continue to train hard and compete in preparation for MYWAY State Finals to be held at the end of this month. Sunday, February 21, wrestlers traveled to one of the last remaining regular tournaments of this season held at Allendale High School. Placers in the 5/6 year old division were Landon Demorest 37lbs/2nd, Maston Woods 49a/4th, Trenton Wachter 52a/1st, and Aiden Bouwens 64lbs/2nd. In the 7/8 year-old division, placers were Trenton Snoeyink 55lbs/2nd, Austin Emmorey 55lbs/3rd, Logan Hull 58b/1st, and Reese Gonzales 61lbs/1st.  In the 9/10 year-old division, placers were Aaron Smith 59lbs/3rd, Allexis Gonzales 75lbs/4th and George Gonzales Jr. 100lbs/1st.

Connor Goike (left) and Logan Hull (right) both placed at NEMWA Regionals held in Meridian on February 20, 2010. Connor took 3rd in the 126lb 11/12 year old class. Logan Hull took first in the 58lb 7/8 year old class.

There were also four other wrestlers who looked to another region to wrestle at Chippewa Hills High School.  Ryan Ringler and Cody Gott both placed in the 7/8 year old division.  Ryan took 1st in the 77lb class. Cody took 3rd in the 112lb class. Jordan Ringler and Connor Goike both placed in the 11/12 year old division. Jordan took 1st in the 70lb class. Connor took 3rd in the 119lb class. Be especially sure to watch for the results from MYWAY Western Regionals to be held March 14 and 15  as most of these tough wrestlers will be competing, placing and heading to State Finals.  Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling website: www.cedarspringsyouthwrestling.com.

Cedar plays spoiler in OK Blue, Comstock Park is league champion

Cedar Springs Red Hawks Seniors: (from left to right) Josh Hall, Jason Gust, Ryan Harper, Seth Coxon, Branden Atkins, and Achrim Tillbrook

Entering the last week of league play this season, the Cedar Springs boys varsity team knew they could not win the league championship. They also knew that they could play a big part in determining who did win it. The second place Huskies of Forest Hills Northern came to Cedar Springs last Tuesday knowing they must win to keep their OK Blue championship hopes alive. The Red Hawks wanted to be the spoilers, and Coach Andy Secor had them prepared to be just that.

Hank Porter (42) goes up for the shot

The Red Hawks stormed out to a 21-11 lead after one quarter. But the Huskies battled back, out scoring Cedar Springs 15-7 in the second quarter to cut the Red Hawk lead to 28-26 at the half. Seth Coxon opened the 2nd half with a 3 pointer to put the Red Hawks up 5. Later in the quarter, a Josh Hall lay up and 2 more baskets by Coxon gave Cedar a 41-34 lead after 3 quarters.

A 9-4 run by the Huskies cut the Cedar lead to 2 points with 2:52 to go in the game. Then the ball bounced Cedar’s way as a Ryan Harper 3-point shot from the corner bounced high off the rim, then off the backboard and through the net to give the Hawks a 5 point lead. Then the Huskies were forced to foul, and Cedar failed to convert on 2 straight trips to the free throw line, giving the Huskies the opportunity to claw there way to within 1 point with 38 seconds left.

The Huskies immediately fouled Hank Porter who sank both free throws to give Cedar a 3-point lead. The Huskies answered back with 2 made free throws to cut the lead to 1 point with 16 seconds left. Ryan Harper then made 1 of his 2 free throws to give Cedar a 2-point lead with 13 seconds left. The Huskies had one final attempt to tie the game. Jason Vanderband drove to the rim and Ryan Harper blocked his game-tying lay-up attempt. Hank Porter grabbed the rebound and was fouled with less than 2 seconds left and Cedar claimed the dramatic upset victory. The final score was Cedar Springs 54, Forest Hills Northern 51.

“What a great team victory,” said Coach Andy Secor. “To beat the 2nd and 3rd place teams (FHN and Sparta) within the span of a week was a great accomplishment for our team. Hank Porter continues to make key free throws down the stretch, but the story of the game was our team defense. Ryan Harper’s block with 4 seconds left to seal the victory is a play I will remember for a long time. To win our 4th game in a row at this point of the season shows that our determination and hard work is paying off.”

Seth Coxon led all scorers with 19 Points for the Red Hawks. Jason Gust had 15 points. Hank Porter chipped in with 6 points and 6 assists. Ryan Harper scored 6 points, while Trey Reed and Josh Hall had 4 each. The victory over the Huskies by the Red Hawks clinched the outright OK Blue Championship for the Comstock Park Panthers, who ended the night with a 2 game lead with only one game to go.

It was only fitting that the next opponent for the Red Hawks was Comstock Park, who came to Cedar last Friday on Senior Night for the Red Hawks. The six Cedar Springs seniors—Branden Atkins, Seth Coxon, Jason Gust, Josh Hall, Ryan Harper and Achrim Tillbrook—were honored in a ceremony before the game began. Coach Secor talked about each senior as they took the floor through a long tunnel formed by the Red Hawk players and fans.

The game itself was not very memorable for the Red Hawks as the Panthers showed why they are the league champions. The game started well for Cedar Springs as they took a 12-11 lead midway through the first quarter. It was appropriate that all 12 of those Red Hawk points were score by seniors. Two Gust 3-pointers, a Branden Atkins 3-pointer and a Ryan Harper 3-pointer gave the Red Hawks that 12-11 lead.

Unfortunately for Cedar Springs, they would not see the lead again as the Panthers went on a 25-6 run and take an 18-point lead early in the 3rd quarter. The Panthers controlled the rest of the game and defeated the Red Hawks 61-35.

Jason Gust led the Red Hawks with 9 points. Gust now has 1062 career points. Gust moved past Luke Walker (1043 points) into 5th place on the Cedar Springs all time scoring list. Gust has at least 2 more games to catch 4th place Norm Hill, who scored 1,100 points for the Red Hawks.

Hank Porter scored 7 points for Cedar and Alec Hanmer had 6. Ryan Harper, Branden Atkins and Seth Coxon had 3 points each. Kyle Chaney and Ryan Dines rounded out the Red Hawk scoring with 2 each.

Coach Secor was disappointed with the game result, but commented on his seniors, “I really enjoyed our senior night festivities. I enjoyed paying tribute to this group of kids that have been a special part of our program.”

Cedar Springs travels to Hudsonville to play the Crusaders of Unity Christian High School on Thursday to finish the regular season. The Red Hawks begin MHSAA Tournament play at Kenowa Hills on Monday, March 8 at 8 p.m. as they take on the host Knights in a re-match of an early season game. The Red Hawks defeated Kenowa Hills 50-42 on January 5 of this year.

It’s not your mother’s or your grandmother’s cheerleading squad anymore. Instead, the Cedar Springs competitive cheer team is an athletic force to be reckoned with.

These red-hot Red Hawks were ahead by only 1.6 points going into round 3 at the District Competition last weekend. What motivated them to hang on and give their best performance ever in round 3?

“First place was in our sights and we were not going to give it up!” remarked senior Melanie Kurylowicz.

The Red Hawks were the first team to take the mat for round 3 and had to set the bar high in order to keep that first place position. “Honestly, I was a little nervous for my girls in round 3 because we have never had to go first in round 3 this season,” explained Coach Pamela Ingles. “However, I knew they could have a solid performance in round 3 because we have been getting stronger with it over the past several weeks. Their confidence level has been growing and it certainly showed when they finished that round 3 with our highest score of the season – 311.3!”

The Red Hawks certainly raised the bar for the rest of the 12 teams that had to finish the competition. Now, all they could do was wait and see how the other teams finished and see what their final place would be among the 13 teams competing. They hoped to be among the top 4 that would advance to the Regional Competition on Saturday, February 27 at Kenowa Hills.

When the final scores were tabulated, the following teams would be advancing to the Regional Competition: 4th place – GR Christian, 3rd place – Mona Shores, 2nd place – Kenowa Hills, and 1st place – Cedar Springs!  The CS Varsity Cheer Team had made history for their school, their first ever District Title!  “It was an amazing feeling to be the first CS Cheer Team to be District Champions,” said senior Ashley Bout.

Many might wonder how this team has prepared for this competition.  JV coach (former MS coach) Anna Ramirez had some insight. “The 5 seniors on this Varsity team, along with some of their other teammates, actually started preparing for this in Middle School when they were on my MS team. Watching them achieve the goals they’ve been working towards for years, makes me feel like the time we have spent preparing/coaching them for this moment was all worth it!” she said.

Along with the years of practicing for many of these girls, also comes the time spent practicing and competing this season.  After each competition, the team reviews the scores and watches their video from their previous competition to see what needs to be improved upon for the next competition.  All of this hard work leads up to the end of the season competitions that will hopefully lead them to the State Finals.

“I feel like some of the mistakes we have made throughout the season led us to our win on Saturday because without those mistakes we wouldn’t have made the changes that helped lead us to our victory,” said junior Brittani Tozer.

With one more week to make improvements to prepare for the Regional Competition, the CS Varsity Cheer Team will be focusing on the small details that could help them advance from Regionals to the State Finals on March 6.  “There’s no better feeling than seeing that everything you have worked hard for has finally paid off,” noted junior Taylor Denslow.  The Regional competition will be a tough competition with the top 4 teams advancing from 3 District Competitions.  CS will compete against Mount Pleasant, Mason, Haslett, DeWitt, Lakeshore, Portage Northern, Byron Center, Mattawan, Kenowa Hills, Mona Shores, and GR Christian. The top 4 teams will advance to State Finals. The upcoming Regional Competition will be the toughest competition the Red Hawks have competed in this season.  They are one step away from reaching their goal of advancing to the State Finals.

“I am extremely proud of this team and how they have continued to push themselves to work harder.  They have been working really hard as a team to improve all 3 rounds, and it is showing!” said Coach Pamela Ingles.

The Regional Competition is on Saturday, February 27 at Kenowa Hills and starts at 10:00.

Cedar Springs advanced three varsity wrestlers to State after the final matches of the regional tournament on Saturday. Two districts came together in Mount Pleasant to battle it out on the mat to qualify the top four wrestlers in each weight class for the state finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills, March 4-6.

Five Red Hawk wrestlers competed during the event: seniors Scott Vodry, Jeremy Stellema, Ricardo Rios, junior Nic Baird and Sophomore Austin Wamser.

After the first round, two Hawks advanced to the championship bracket, while the others dropped into the consolation bracket to wrestle their way into the 3rd and 4th place finals.

Red Hawk wrestlers, in the championship semi-finals, had grappled hard but fell just short of earning themselves a spot in the “blood rounds.” Two more wrestlers in the consolation rounds, Jeremy Stellema and Austin Wamser, advanced their way to fight for the final spots to make it into state. Wamser (145 lb) had an intense match against Kurth of Gaylord.  Coming from behind, with a score of 8-11, Wamser earned a fall at the buzzer. The referee reversed the call and awarded Wamser only points and not the win.  This started the third period with Wamser ahead and he continued to earn points and a pin before the end of the match.

Jeremy Stellema (189 lb) earned a place in the finals after going against #3 state ranked Bandon Wrzesinski of Bay City John Glenn. The end of the first period found the score 0-0. Wrzesinski was strong, but not tough enough to keep Stellema from earning 9 points and finally pinning him to victoriously move on to the State finals.

Nic Baird (103 lb) managed a quick round against Alex Meyers of Manistee. Baird initiated a takedown that brought the score to 2-0 at the end of the first round. Another takedown and near fall earned 3 more points for Baird. A quick pin execution with just seconds left in the second round earned Baird a trip to the Palace.

Scott Vodry earned his place on the podium after a win by decision against Mickey Emenhiser of Charlotte. A score of 4-2 in favor of Vodry ended the first round. Vodry continued to build the points using nearly every move in his arsenal to bring the final score to 12-3.
At the end of the day, Nic Baird, Scott Vodry and Jeremy Stellema earned 4th place medals, a trip to Auburn Hills and the opportunity to become state champions.

Jason Gust is presented with the “1000 Point Club” basketball by Atheletic Supervisor Autumn Mattson. The ball is permanently displayed in the Cedar Springs High School trophy case and is inscribed with the names of all the school’s 1000 point scorers. Jason has scored 1,053 points as of February 24.

The Red Hawk Varsity basketball win against Sparta on February 16 was especially sweet for senior Jason Gust. Gust opened the second half scoring with a long 3-pointer with 7:19 left in the 3rd quarter. With that basket, Gust became the 6th player in Cedar Springs Boys Varsity basketball history to score 1000 points.

Gust joins Norm Hill, Nick Wolfe, Tyler Wolfe, Austin Thornton, and Luke Walker in the 1000-point club. The fact that Jason surpassed 1000 points on a long three pointer was appropriate. Gust is known for his 3 point shooting and currently has made 164 threes in his career. Jason played on the 22-2 OK Blue and District Championship team, as a freshmen, in 2007. That team featured three of the six 1000-point club members, including Cedar Springs’ all time leading scorer Austin Thornton, along with Luke Walker and Gust. Jason will continue his basketball career next year for Aquinas College.

“What a great accomplishment by Jason to put himself with those other Cedar greats,” said Coach Andy Secor. “He has played on some great teams, and had great teammates, and all his hard work has paid off.”

Winning wrestlers at Ionia meet.

The regular season for the Michigan youth wrestling is almost half over.  Competition is getting intense as wrestlers are preparing for the Youth Regional and State meets coming up at the end of March.

Cedar Springs youth wrestlers were found wrestling at Caledonia High School February 7, 2010.  The results of that tournament speak for themselves as Cedar continues to be a force in the youth wrestling world.

In the 5/6 year old division, placers were Landon Demorest 37lbs/1st, Trenton Wachter 52a/1st and Aiden Bouwens 61lbs/1st.  In the 7/8 year old division, placers were Trenton Snoeyink 55lbs/2nd, Reese Gonzales 61b/1st and Ryan Ringler 77lbs/1st.  In the 9/10 year old division, placers Aaron Smith 59lbs/4th, Allexis Gonzales 75b/2nd, George Gonzales Jr 100lbs/1st, and Jeremy Wildfong 150lbs/4th.  Jordan Ringler took first in the 11/12 year 65lb division and Vance Demorest took fourth in the 13-15 100/107lb division.   Logan Hull and Connor Goike wrestled at a tournament in Shepherd hosted by North Eastern Michigan Wrestling Association.  Logan took a solid first in the 7/8 year 58lb division.  Connor took third in the 11/12 year 119/126lb division.

Youth wrestlers took home medals at the Caledonia meet.

Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14, found Cedar Springs youth wrestlers doing what they love, winning matches. The team traveled to Ionia to wrestle at the annual meet hosted by the Ionia Bull Dogs.  Competition was tougher than usual as many of the finest wrestlers from the east side of the state came to compete in the west region.  The results for the Red Hawks are as follows: In the 5/6 year division placers were Landon Demorest 37lbs/2nd, Trenton Wachter 49a/1st, Jakob Hendee 49a/3rd, Maston Wood 49b/3rd, and Aiden Bouwens 61lbs/2nd.  Placers in the 7/8 year division were Reese Gonzales 58a/1st, Trenton Snoeyink 58b/1st, Ricky wood 67lbs/4th, and Ryan Ringler 77lbs/ 1st.  Placers in the 9/10 year division were Aaron Smith 59lbs/3rd, Allexis Gonzales 71lbs/2nd and George Gonzales Jr. 100-110/1st.  Undefeated in the Western Region and in search for a challenge, 12 year old, Jordan Ringler gave up about 10lbs by “bumping” up two weight classes in the 11/12 year division. He faired quite well, taking home a third place finish in the 70/75lb weight class.

Red Hawk Michael Korody ventured out to the northern region, wrestling at Central Montcalm. He took 2nd in the 9/10 year 67lb division.

Check out the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Website address:  wwww.cedarspringsyouthwrestling.com.

Wayne Gretzky’s Dad, Walter Gretzky, poses with the Kentwood team.

Over the Christmas holiday, one local Cedar Springs student, Mitch Hawes, of Cedar Springs Middle School, who plays on the Kentwood Falcons Bantam A travel hockey team, had the rare and enjoyable experience of receiving an invitation to play in the prestigious Wayne Gretzky International Hockey Tournament in Brantford, ON, Canada.

This is a select tournament of teams made up of 14 & 15 year-olds—all except for Mitch and his Kentwood Falcon team who are made up of 12 & 13 year-olds. Not only were they playing against top-notch competition, but older boys as well. They finished initial pool play in 2nd place, which qualified them for the semi finals. They were one of the final 4 teams, and the only American team to advance this far in the tournament (in any age bracket). Over 100 teams in various age brackets were invited to this tournament.  Unfortunately, they lost in the semi-final game to Norway (all 15 year olds) by a score of 3-1.

This was quite an accomplishment for this young team and an incredible international experience for all!

It was a great week for the Cedar Springs Boys Varsity Basketball team, a week they really needed. It started out on Friday, February 12, with an easy 74-42 victory over the struggling Grand Rapids Central Rams. The outcome was never in doubt as Cedar jumped out to a 22-9 lead after one quarter and never looked back. All 13 Red Hawks saw plenty of action and 12 Red Hawks scored in the game. Senior Achrim Tillbrook, playing his first year of high school basketball, scored his first points of the year on a driving lay-up through the Central defense. Jason Gust and Seth Coxon each had 12 points and Ryan Harper chipped in 10.

Next up was the re-match with arch-rival Sparta, on February 16, at Cedar Springs High School. Sparta narrowly defeated Cedar earlier this season at Sparta, snapping a 16 game Red Hawk winning streak against the Spartans. The Red Hawks have not lost to Sparta at home since 1999 and didn’t want that streak to end. Sparta entered the game as the favorite with an impressive 11-4 record. Cedar Springs was 5-10. The game was close the entire first half with the lead changing hands 6 times. A 3-pointer by Seth Coxon late in the 2nd quarter gave Cedar a 23-19 halftime lead.

Cedar built a 9-point lead early in the 3rd on 7 straight points by Jason Gust. Sparta cut the lead to 5 at the end of 3 quarters. The Red Hawks clawed their way back to a 9-point lead with 4 minutes to go on a Ryan Dines lay-up, a Ryan Harper free throw, and 6 points by Seth Coxon. After a Sparta basket, Cedar held the ball for over a minute forcing Sparta to foul. Cedar failed to convert the free throw and Sparta rebounded and made a quick 3-pointer that cut the Red Hawk lead to 4 with 2:30 to go. After another missed free throw and a Red Hawk turnover, Sparta tied the game, but only for about 5 seconds. Cedar quickly broke the Spartan full court press, and Jason Gust fired a pass to Trey Reed for a wide-open lay-up to give Cedar the lead again with a minute to go. Sparta then turned the ball over and was forced to foul. The Red Hawks converted 6 of 8 free throws in the final minute to clinch the 55-51 victory.

Gust led all scorers with 26 points, Coxon had 10, Harper 7, Reed 6, Hank Porter, Branden Atkins and Dines had 2 each for the Red Hawks. Coach Secor was pleased with the victory. “It was a big win for our team, the thought of being swept by our rival was very motivating. Beating them 17 of the last 18 games is important to our program. Team defense was the key. Dines and Porter were very good guarding Plite (Sparta’s best player) and Gust made his free throws down the stretch.” Gust also made his 1000th point during the game.

On February 19, Cedar traveled to Coopersville to take on the Broncos. Eight first quarter points by Hank Porter led the Red Hawks to a 15-13 lead after one quarter. Cedar increased their lead to 35-22 at the half, on 11 second quarter points by sophomore Trey Reed and 7 points by Jason Gust.

Fifteen seconds into the 3rd quarter, Hank Porter hit a 3-pointer to give the Red Hawks a commanding 38-22 lead. Then the wheels came off for the Red Hawks. In an almost unbelievable turn of events, Coopersville outscored Cedar Springs 33-6 in the next 11 minutes and the Broncos went from being down by 16 points to being up by 11 (55-44) with 4:30 to go in the game. The Red Hawks were in trouble.

The Red Hawks quickly regrouped and went on a 7-0 run in the next 45 seconds to cut the Bronco lead to 4, then a 3-pointer by Coopersville gave them a 7-point lead with 3 minutes to go. Jason Gust answered with a quick 3 for Cedar to bring the Red Hawks within 4 again. Cedar’s defense then forced a Bronco turnover and Ryan Harper hit a jumper to make it a 2-point game. Then a huge Jason Gust steal led to a Ryan Harper lay-up to tie the game and send it in to overtime.

In overtime, the score was tied 60-60 with 1:25 to go and Seth Coxon hit a huge 3-pointer for the Red Hawks. Then Coxon stole the ball and the Broncos were forced to foul. Cedar converted on 5 of 6 free throws in the last minute to give the Red Hawks a 68-65 hard fought comeback victory.

“This was the biggest roller coaster of emotions in my 12 years of coaching,” said an emotionally drained Coach Secor. “We showed a lot of grit and character. Hank Porter and Trey Reed gave us a big lift offensively. After losing 5 games this season by 3 points or less, it was really good for us to win a couple close ones this week.”

Gust again led all scorers with 21 points, but had lots of help from his teammates. Hank Porter had 17 points and Trey Reed had 13. Ryan Harper narrowly missed a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Seth Coxon scored 4 points including the game winning 3-pointer. Two points each by Josh Hall and Tyler Baker rounded out the Red Hawk scoring.
The Red Hawks take on league leading Comstock Park at home in a Girls-Boys Varsity double-header on Friday, February 26.

One of the biggest competitions leading up to Districts took place at the Delta Plex on Saturday, February 13.  Thirteen Division 2 teams from across the state met at the Delta Plex for a competition many call the “mini-state finals” because in just a few weeks state finals will be held in that exact location. Many of the teams the Red Hawks would be competing against will probably be in their regional competition in 2 weeks.  “This competition gave us a pretty good indication of how we are doing with other teams that we will hopefully see in two weeks at Kenowa Hills for the Regional competition,” said Coach Pamela Ingles. “The top four teams advance to the State Finals and this team has been working really hard to try and make that goal become a reality in the next couple of weeks.”

After all the teams finished round 1, the CS Varsity Team was in 5th place with 216.9 behind Mt. Pleasant, Brandon, Allen Park, and Divine Child.  Round 2 can really shake up the scores and placements depending on how the skills in round 2 are performed. The Red Hawks had one of their best round 2s for the season with a score of 234.8956 and moved up to 3rd place with the 2nd highest rd 2 score for the day.

The competition was going to be tight with round 3 underway. They finished round 3 with a score of 304.1 with 13 girls on the floor. Mt. Pleasant and Brandon were right behind them but they both had 16 on the floor so their execution score could be higher.  In the end, Cedar Springs finished the competition in 3rd place beating Mt. Pleasant and Brandon.  “I think the girls thought they were bumped back down to 5th after watching MP and Brandon finish their round 3s because they had more girls on the floor,” said Ingles. “When the announcer read the final scores and announced their name for 3rd place, they were in total shock.  It was so much fun to watch their excitement!”

The girls are now excited about what lies ahead. “The Delta Plex was a really good thing for us at this point in our season,” remarked senior Samantha Kinney. “It was a big confidence builder and really opened up our eyes to all the possibilities for the rest of this season.”

The Varsity Cheer Team also finished the OK Blue Conference at Comstock Park on Thursday in 2nd place.  Their next competition is Districts on Saturday, February 20 at GR Christian HS at 10:00.