SN 3-11-2023

Page 12/The Sun and News, Saturday, March 11, 2023

Trojans match program’s best finals finish ever

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

It was a secret to everyone

except the girls in orange,

black and white out on the

mat and and their coaches.

Senior Presley Hall ran

out of the crowd of

Thornapple Kellogg Trojans

in the corner of McGuirk

Arena at the start of round

two and bounded onto the

mat with her teammates. Hall

didn’t even tell her parents

she was back in round two.

“I wanted to see their reac-

tion and hear their reaction

when I threw it on the mat,”

Hall said.

Hall opened the season

throwing back tucks with the

Trojans in round two, but ran

into a bit of a mental block

and senior exchange student

Monica Serrano Aguilar took

her spot in round two as she

got more confident in her

own back tucks.

Hall said that she finally

hit it again in practice

Monday, two days after

regionals, and it wasn’t until

Friday morning that she

knew for sure she’d be per-

forming the skill at the state

finals.

“She has beautiful tum-

bling skills,” TK head coach

Adrian Nichols said of Hall.

“She never has a physical

issue. It’s just a mental block

and she has been working

through that a lot. She was in

our first competition in round

two with the tucks and then

she lost it. Then we put in

Monica, our foreign

exchange student.

“Monica got hurt this past

week, not a big injury just a

soreness kind of thing, and

Presley stepped up. It worked

out to be prefect timing that

Presley got her mental block

out of the way the day before

... and she went in. She went

in and flawlessly hit it in

round two and then she did it

again in round three.”

All the Trojans got the job

done in round three at the

MHSAA Division 2

Competitive Cheer Finals

Friday on the campus of

Central Michigan University

in Mt. Pleasant. The TK girls

were eighth after round one,

jumped up to sixth in the

standings after round two

and then matched the highest

state finish in the history of

the TK varsity competitive

cheer program by moving up

to fifth in the end.

“She ended on a good

note,” Nichols said of Hall.

“That was our shockwave of

the week. They all handled it

very well. They all knew she

was capable. She has some

of the best tucks on the team

when she does it. Monica

wanted her to go in. Monica

is very self aware, and she

knew that Presley could get

the job done, and she knew

that her spot was in good

hands. I am very proud of

them.”

She’s very proud of all of

them. The TK coach said

shooting for the stars, the

Trojans hoped they could

finish as high as third and

really wanted to get to at

least that fifth place spot to

match the team’s high-water

mark. Shooting to beat Allen

Park or Gibralter Carlson

would mean clearing the

stars – and the two D2 pow-

erhouses were out of this

world again.

Nichols pumped the open-

ing of her orange blazer,

standing next to assistant

coach Madelynn Lula behind

the scorers tables, to let some

heat out as the Allen Park

varsity competitive cheer

team began its round one

performance.

The Jaguars took mat right

her Trojans late in round one

and officially started the

push for a fourth consecutive

champions. Gibraltar Carlson

followed the Jags.

Between the two schools,

Allen Park and Gibraltar

Carlson, they have won

every MHSAA competitive

cheer state championship

since the Holland Christian

girls won the first ever title in

2007. Gibraltar Carlson won
      ten titles between 2008 and


2008. Allen Park won five
      titles during that span. Only
      three times during that span
      did another team even finish
      second at the D2 Finals.
      A 240 is a perfect score in
      round one. The Gibraltar
      Carlson girls put up a score
      of 238.9, and followed it up
      with near flawless back

tucks, back walkovers and

back handsprings in a round

two performance that earned

232.04 points while includ-

ing an unmatched motions

per second routine. The

Carlson Marauders clinched

their state championship

with a round three score of

320.60.

TK junior Anna Smith

couldn’t help but jump up

out of her seat along the

upper section railing behind

the performance mat, pump-

ing a fist in the air as the

Marauders finished up their

final round.

The Carlson girls reacted

with genuine shock as Allen

Park was announced as the

evening’s second place team,

leaving only them to hold the

state championship trophy.

Berg wiggled her way

through the mob on the mat

be ringside as the Marauders

exploded at the reveal of

their victory.

“We saw their round three

and it was amazing,” Hall

said. “I saw D1 last night and

I was literally blown away. I

mean we look at the stats

every week on Instagram and

we kind of just watch it every

week, and we are like how

are they scoring that high.

They are near perfect.”

Coach Nichols was

impressed with the

Marauders on and off the

mat.

“It is always the two of

them. It is always back and

forth between Allen Park and

Carlson. It is a big win for

Carlson and I am very happy

for them,” Nichols said. “TK

was very much a Carlson

team because they were

cheering them on. Their kids

are so nice. It is nice to see

them see the state champion

win, but also comment and

say, ‘you’ve got it girl.’

“They’re literally talking

to each other through the

halls. ‘Let’s go. Pick your

head up.’ The sportsmanship

is insane over there, so I am

glad my kids got to see okay

the state champs are nice.

The state champs are talent-

ed. We can be just like that

also. Very good day. Very

happy with what they did for

sure.”

Carlson had an overall

score of 789.54 points. Allen

Park was second at 788.86.

Allen Park had the top round

two score of the day at

232.06, two hundredths of a

point better than Carlson,

and had the number two

score in round one (237.20)

and round three (319.60).

Dearborn Divine Child

was third with an overall

score of 774.96 ahead of Bay

City Western 767.94,

Thornapple Kellogg 762.28,

South Lyon East 761.72,

Mason 754.42 and Forest

Hills Northern 727.04.

“We wanted three, but

Divine Child was better than

us and Bay City Western was

also better than us,” Nichols

said. “We are happy to be as

good as the previous teams

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Thornapple Kellogg’s Kenady Smith (front to back), Lilly McKeown and

Kambria Beck shout out together during round one of the MHSAA Division 2

Competitive Cheer Finals inside McGuirk Arena on the campus of Central

Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant Friday, March 3. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Thornapple Kellogg junior Mali Holland gets her

voice going at the start of round one Friday, March 2,

at the MHSAA Division 2 Competitive Cheer Finals

inside McGuirk Arena on the campus of Central

Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant Friday, March 3.

(Photo by Brett Bremer)