John Raffel
Sports Scene
Pewamo-Westphalia’s competitive cheer team has made a habit of contending for Division 4 state titles. Coach Staci Myers’ team won the title in 2008 and 2010, and had runner-up finishes in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015.
This season on March 3, the Pirates took eighth out of eight teams in the Division 4 meet, but Myers was upbeat with what her young team was able to accomplish. PW’s final score was 723.76.
The only PW senior is Karson Hengesbach.
“They did amazing,” Myers said. “We came in here hoping they could do their best rounds one, two and three and where the chips fall, they do. We worked hard this season and made huge transformations with this young team.”
Juniors for the Pirates are Kelsey Russell, Olivia Ferguson, Esmeralda Gonzalez and Cierra VanElls. Sophomores are Emma Thelen, Isabella Droste and Olivia Richards. Freshmen are Rachel Kent, Mya Beech, Ellie Pohl, Ella Simon and Ella Smith.
“We’re really hoping next year we come out strong,” Myers said. “We have a lot if freshmen coming up and are hoping to have a nice big team.”
Merrill and Farwell had a close fight for fourth place. Merrill took it with 750.74 while Farwell scored 749.62 and took fifth.
“We really did our best,” Farwell senior Brooke Pritchard said. “That was our peak of the season. We placed seventh last year. We wanted it a lot more than last year.”
Round 3 was Farwell’s best round, she added.
The Eagles had seven seniors on the team including Pritchard, Alexis Andreas, Taylor Johns, Druanne Marsh, Morgan Nestor, Halee Scheidt and Jordyn Smith. Others were junior Karley Edwards, Brianna McQuiston and Morgan Vanthull and sophomore Mia Fetzer.
Merrill coach Molly Garno was upbeat over her team’s performance.
“They went out there and had three solid rounds,” Garno said. “I couldn’t be prouder. We absolutely exceeded expectations for the season. We came across a lot of battles and they overcame them time after time.”
“We’re graduating four seniors who will be missed. But we have talent coming up. We hope to keep the Merrill tradition strong.”
Cheerleaders for the Vandals were Orien Artcliff, Keira Dittenber, Kyle Dittenber. Nicole Dubay, Molly Frantz, Gracie Hjorvatd. Jamie Huntoon, Caitlin Lisee, Emma Platt and Gabrielle Stoneman.