It was somewhat expected that Hudson would win the Division 4 meet for competitive cheer on March 3.
But second place was wide open.
That was the challenge for Sanford-Meridian Early College’s cheer team at the Grand Rapids Delta Plex. After three rounds, Val MacKenzie celebrated her 31st year as the team’s coach with the coveted second place trophy
Hudson had a final score of 759.26 to take first with Sanford Meridian second at 756.86, barely ahead of third-place Adrian Madison at 756.56. After the first two rounds, Hudson had a 452.66-450.26 lead over the Mustangs. But Hudson outscored SM by 10 points in the third round to clinch the win.
“I’m very proud of how they bought into the program and are so dedicated,” MacKenzie said. “They never missed practices. They’re a good bunch of girls.”
MacKenzie had thoughts of possibly getting first place as she prepared the team for the meet.
“I knew we could be in the top three or take it,” she said. “Our goal was met. We have a strong round 1. I knew it’d hold us over and if it doesn’t we would go into round 2, which is always strong.
“Round 3 has just been strong all year. The girls have really worked on getting the strength to do all that stuff. It was just a good day. Round 3 today was solid. We got a lot of bonus points which is what we were looking for.’”