On what was a very hilly and challenging course hosted by Wayland Union on September 29, the Lady Red Hawks managed themselves very well in OK Gold conference action with an overall fifth place finish missing out on fourth place by just three points.

Junior Ally Ladd led the Red Hawks on the course, keeping herself close to some of the top groups and maintaining a good position the entire race. Ladd finished 12th in a time of 21:12.Danika Fessenden was not far behind running strong herself finishing at 21:42 in the 16th spot.

Sophomore Molly Bentley ran a great race (21:58, 20th) by starting out in a good position at the beginning of the race and moving up as the race went on. Holding off the field behind her was Kelsi Green (22:08, 28th) with Annalise Elliott (22:34, 34th) helping out the team greatly. Isabel VanDusen (22:42, 41st) ran a solid race helping her teammates Addyson Brown who finished just behind VanDusen (22:57, 43rd) and Laina Payne (23:29, 49th) who ran strong to round out the varsity group.

The JV squad looked strong with Larissa McGrath who started out in the top 10 but moved her way up to the 3rd spot finishing in 22:56. Running with some fire under her shoes was Hannah Reed finishing 9th at 23:25. Next up and competing well was Reagan Viau (24:03, 15th) and maintaining a good pace not far behind was Kaitlynn Brown (24:34, 24th). Paige

Marsman finished 27th at 25:01 as she kept pushing herself to maintain a good pace and stayclose to some packs ahead. Madison Golliver ran a great race and finished 38th in 26:17. Also running well for the JV squad were Isabella Smith (27:01, 41st), Haylie Terrien (27:29, 43rd), and Mikayla Caruthers (27:38, 44th).

“Our girls have been improving every time and it is so fun to watch them go out and have fun,” said Coach Melinda Stressman.

The girls are currently 3rd in the OK Gold conference standings and will compete in their third and final OK Gold Jamboree on October 20th at Thornapple Kellogg High School.

Varsity: The Cedar Springs Varsity Cheer team finished 3rd out of 15 teams at Mona Shores.

This weeks competitions brought the Cedar Springs High School Varsity & JV teams to Mona Shores High School. It was a long night for the girls, due to there being 33 teams at this competition.

Starting in round one, Cedar Springs Varsity scored a 218.5 with a 4-point penalty bringing their score to a 214.5 and placing them in 4th place at the end of round one.

JV: The Cedar Springs JV team finished first out of six teams at Mona Shores.

Cedar Springs JV scored a 195.7 placing them in 1st place at the end of round one.

Continuing on to round two Cedar Springs Varsity scored a 218.7 making their subtotal for round two a 433.28 bringing them up to second place at the end of round two.

Cedar Springs JV scored a 163.6 bringing the subtotal to a 359.3 and holding their first place standing.

Lastly, in round three Cedar Springs Varsity scored a 280.1, bringing their overall total for all three rounds 713.38. This gave them a third place finish out of 15 Division 2 teams, with less than a one-point difference for second place.

Cedar Springs JV finished round three with a 248.7, bringing their overall total to 608 and securing a first place finish out of six JV teams.

Great job to all the girls.

The next High School competition will be Saturday January 7 at Comstock Park High School.

The 2016-2017 competitive cheer season has begun. Cedar Springs Middle School, coached by Deb Garza and Abby Olszewski, took the mat for the first time December 1 at Coopersville Middle School and brought home their first conference win of the season.

Saturday was the start to Cedar Springs high school JV and Varsity season. This brought the girls to Comstock Park High School for the CCCAM Scholarship Invitational, where there were 23 teams from 3 divisions competing.

After the completion of Rounds 1 and 2, Cedar Springs JV, coached by Katy Hradsky, had a combined score of  243.34. Cedar Springs Varsity, coached by Anne Olszewski, had a combined score of 401.56. That brings us to Round 3 where the girls display their impressive stunting and tumbling skills.

After the completion of Round 3, Cedar Springs JV earned a score of 226.08 bringing their total score to 470.14 and earning them a 2nd place finish for their division. Cedar Springs Varsity earned a score of 216.3 bringing their total to 617.56 and earning them a 3rd place finish for their division.
Our next middle school competition will be Thursday, December 15 at Cedar Springs. The JV and Varsity teams’ next competition will be December 21 at Mona Shores. Come out and support a great group of coaches and cheerleaders as they show their pride in being a Red Hawk.

The JV Volleyball girls traveled to Reeths Puffer for a tournament this past Saturday, where they advanced to the semifinals and finished 3-2 on the day. While they were defeated in the semifinals match against Reeths Puffer, they greatly improved their team play by supporting each other on the court and communicating, elements that had been lacking prior to the tournament.

With the team suffering from injuries, all players stepped up to contribute their best effort. Defensive specialist Kaitlyn Coons led the team in digs with 48, while outside hitter Brooke Morris led the team in kills with 7. Setter Sienna Wight provided 17 set assists and defensive specialists Lindsay Lehman and Cassie Rivard provided solid defense and passes to target throughout each match. Middle hitters Carlee Mouthaan and Holly Scheer led the team in solo blocks with 3 each. Right side hitters Sydnee Jager and Anna Behrenwald stepped in to provide much needed defensive coverage and court awareness.

According to head coach Ashley Fisher, “the girls came together and played as a team, which has been our main goal all season. I am proud of the way they supported each other on the court and the energy they played with throughout each game.”

The next game for the team is an invitational this Saturday, September 20th at Sparta. Their first home game of the season will be Tuesday, September 23rd against Wyoming Park at 5:00pm. Come out and support your Red Hawk Volleyball players!

Freshman volleyball

The season started off with a 5th place finish at the Sparta Invitational where the freshman team lost to Wayland 21-25, 20-25, defeated Kelloggsville 25-9, 25-9 and Fremont 25-17, 25-9 in pool play.  Northview was the opponent in the Gold Bracket quarterfinals and was the winner by scores of 25-13, 25-17 in a close match. The CS freshman team finished 5th out of 12 teams.

The Grand Haven and East Kentwood quads found the Red Hawks coming up short in each of the games against Grand Haven, East Grand Rapids, Grant, East Kentwood, Byron Center and Forest Hills Northern.

The team participated in the Thornapple-Kelloggsville quad and lost to T-K and Byron Center in close matches.  Calvin Christian quad saw the Red Hawks playing Holland West Ottawa, host Calvin Christian and Hamilton. Scores were close and the team is improving each match.

On Saturday, September 6, the team was at the Muskegon Reeths Puffer Tournament. In pool play Grand Haven defeated the Red Hawks 25-14 and 25-16. Zeeland East also defeated the Hawks by scores of 25-19 and 26-24 in very close matches. The Red Hawks were placed in the semifinals of the Silver Bracket and defeated Union by scores of 25-15 and 25-19. Kenowa Hills was the opponent in the finals and ended up winning by close scores of 26-24 and 25-17.

The following week, the Red Hawks traveled to Kenowa Hills and defeated the Knights 25-22 and 25-20.

Scoring leaders include Carly Hyder with 31 aces and 21 kills followed by Emilee Pastoor with 25 aces, 25 assists and 10 kills. Maddie Nichols has served up 17 aces and Rachel Bowers has 17 kills to date.  Other players have contributed with solid defense and serving when called upon.

League action starts on Tuesday September 23, at home against Wyoming, with the action starting at 5:00 for freshman and JV teams followed by the varsity action.

Sirena Johnson assisting on offense

Due to the wonderful winter weather in Michigan, the JV Red Hawks girls basketball team only played one basketball game last week. The West Catholic game that was scheduled for February 1 has been rescheduled.
Although there was no school for both teams on February 3, the Cedar Springs JV Red Hawk girls traveled to Sparta to battle the Spartans. Both teams started out slow with very little scoring and ended the first quarter with Cedar Springs leading 8-3. The slow pace continued through the second quarter, with the  Red Hawks scoring 3 points and Spartans scoring 8 points to end the half tied 11-11.
Sparta stepped it up in the third scoring 14 points to Cedar Springs’ 9 points and took the lead at the end of the quarter 25-20. The Red Hawks came back with determination in the fourth quarter and tied the score at 28 points early on. Key jump shots by Abby VanDusen and 3-point baskets by Shaelyn Fasel and Allie Veltkamp helped seal the Red Hawk victory 36-33.
Abby VanDusen led the JV Redhawks in scoring, and Allie Veltkamp. Shaelyn Fasel, Sommer VanDyke and Jeanette Sukstas also scored for the Red Hawks.
The JV Lady Red Hawks were scheduled to host Tri-County on Tuesday, February 8 and Coopersville on Thursday, February 10.

Red Hawk Jeanette Sukstas shoots a 3-pointer.

It was a great week of basketball for the Cedar Springs JV girls as they recorded two victories last week. After the long holiday break, the JV Red Hawks traveled to Kenowa Hills on Monday, January 3. Both teams came ready to play with an exciting first half and kept the scoring close. The two teams exchanged the lead five times and tied the game four times before the halftime buzzer. The Red Hawks went to the locker room behind by one point 14-15.
The second half began as the first half left off. The teams again tied the game once in the 3rd quarter and exchanged the lead six times in the second half. Finally the relentless pressure of the defense sealed the victory for the lady Red Hawks with a final score of 32-27. Jeanette Sukstas, Sommer VanDyke, Shaelyn Fasel, Allie Veltkamp and Abby VanDusen had a combined total of 25 steals. Allie Veltkamp was high in scoring with Sommer Vandyke, Molly Caniff, Abby VanDusen and Tamar Clark adding to the total points.
“The team played with integrity and teamwork,” commented Coach Tom Welsh.
The team then traveled to Coopersville on January 6. The girls had another tough game with the lead going back and forth. They fell behind at the end of the first quarter 8–9 and went to the locker room down 16–19 at the half. The Red Hawks came back strong in the third quarter and took the lead 33-29. Coopersville came back in the forth by scoring 10 points to end the game in a tie 39–39 and send the game to overtime.
The girls went into overtime determined to win with four Red Hawk girls scoring a combined 13 points in the overtime period to beat Coopersville 52-45. “It was an even game, but we really picked up the intensity once the game hit overtime,” noted Coach Welsh.
Sommer Vandyke led the scoring effort while Jeanette Sukstas, Tamar Clark, Abby VanDusen and Allie Veltkamp added points to the Red Hawks total.
The Red Hawk girls play at home on Thursday January 13 against Forest Hills Northern.