By John Raffel
They’re the state champions.
In this case, the Saginaw Valley Lutheran pompon squad, which won the state title on Feb. 7.
It’s the second straight year the team has claimed the title for the Chargers.
Mallory Raines coaches the team. Members of the team were: Captains Shannon Cleary and Angela Kaczynski; teammates Abigail Arndt, Nicole Felten, Sydni Klein, Lauren Koltvedt, Marissa Lacy, Kaitlyn Ruger, Hunter Riedlinger and Kaitlyn Walk.
The state competition was at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. Poms is not an MHSAA sanctioned sport, but is instead sanctioned by the Mid-American Pompon. Valley Lutheran was first in Class C-D and competed against six other teams. The Chargers competed in a regional competition on Jan. 23.
“You have to get 75 percent of the total points to qualify for state,” Raines said.
During competition, a team performs a 2 and a half to 3-minute routine.
“The only main requirement is that it has to have a kick line,” Raines said.
Valley Lutheran was also successful in competition at Alma during the season.
During a performance, pompon members are judged on various categories, including appearance, smiling, choreography, kick line skills, ability and talent, overall performance, use of the poms and execution and form.
“We did pretty equal in all the categories,” Raines said. “The one where we stand out is execution and form.”
The poms team also performs at Valley Lutheran basketball games.
As the defending champions, there was some pressure to win again this year, and Raines had full confidence in her team.
“I had a good feeling about this season,” she said. “I knew if the girls did their best, they could do it again. They were highly motivated to do so.”