Page 14/The Sun and News, Saturday, March 9, 2024Last one, best one for TK at Cheer Finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Trojans took their
one last chance to make
their mark on the 2023-
varsity competitive cheer
season and made it count.
Senior Kenady Smith
said the Thornapple Kellogg
varsity competitive cheer
team is a superstitious
bunch. The Trojans take to
singing a bit of ‘Now or
Never’ before the start of
round three each competi-
tion.
“The line is, ‘history will
know who we are,’” Smith
said. “We always just belt
that out. It is always so big.
We are singing, dancing,
high energy, like we want to
be here. And we’re here.”
“Here” was McGuirk
Arena on the campus of
Central Michigan
University in Mt. Pleasant
for the MHSAA Division 2
Competitive Cheer Finals
Saturday afternoon, and the
TK ladies left their mark by
putting up their highest
score of the 2023-24 sea-
son, 769.00 points, which
put them in sixth place
overall at the finals.
They were almost seven
points better than they were
at the 2022-23 finals when
they placed fifth, and they
were just eight hundredths
of a point behind theirco-champions in the OK
Gold Conference from
Cedar Springs who man-
aged a final tally of 769.
to finish fifth.
“We always peak at dis-
tricts or at regionals and
then we come and swal-
lowed up in this big arena
and get swallowed up by
these big huge teams and
whatever. They didn’t do
that,” TK head coach
Madelynn Lula said. “They
went out there and they
peaked at the state finals.
They went out there and did
exactly what I asked them
to do. They did exactly
what I asked them to do.
They went out there and got
the highest scores of the
season.”
The Trojans tallied their
top round one and round
two scores and their top
overall score too. Round
three was less than half a
point off their best score of
the year, and coach Lula
was thrilled to see scores of
9.9 and 10 from judges for
their overall impression in
that final round. Their final
round three score was
315.40.
“Unbelievable,” Lula
said.
In round three, the
Trojans outscored the team
from Carleton Airport that
won the state runner-up tro-
phy. They outscored the
defending state champions
from Gibraltar-Carlson.
They outscored all three of
the competitors from their
west side regional – CedarSprings, Reeths-Puffer and
Plainwell. Only the state
champions from Allen Park
and the Dearborn Divine
Child girls that placed third
overall were better than TK
in round three.
“That is exciting to me.
Little wins,” Lula said. “We
knew we weren’t coming to
win the mitten. Of course,
we would love to, but we
knew where we stood. We
had to go out there and per-
form, and have our best
day, and our best rounds,and our best feeling, and we
did all of that.”
Gibraltar Carlson and
Allen Park have won the
past 17 MHSAA Division 2
Competitive Cheer champi-
onships, with one school or
the other finishing second
nine times during thatstretch. Gibraltar Carlson
has won the title 11 times in
those 17 seasons and Allen
Park girls made it six cham-
pionships in that span of
dominance since 2008.
Allen Park won with an
overall score of 793.34.
Carleton Airport took therunner-up spot with 779.
points ahead of Dearborn
Divine Child 779.84,
Gibraltar Carlson 778.10,
Cedar Springs 769.08, TK
769.00, Plainwell 762.
and Reeths-Puffer 745.02.
“It is crazy, and I am so
happy that we peaked and
got our highest at state,”
Smith said.
The TK ladies didn’t just
close strong. They started
strong and had a great mid-
dle portion too.
Coach Lula was looking for
performance, punch and pas-
sion in round one, and she got
it from her girls who earned a
score of 230.90.
“They looked like they
loved what they were doing
and that was the difference,”
Lula said. “In round two, I
made it a point to say, ‘listen
you have to go out there and
stick your skills. If you do that
you will be undeniably above
220, you will.’ They did that.
They went out there and they
drilled their feet into the
ground and they spread thoseNOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
THORNAPPLE TOWNSHIP PLANNING
COMMISSION
MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2024, at 7:00 P.M.Please be advised the Thornapple Township
Planning Commission will hold public hearings
on March 25, at 7pm or as soon thereafter as pos-
sible. The public hearings will take place in the
Township Hall, 200 E. Main St., Middleville.The public hearings will address the following:1) Special Use #167 – Applicant Keri Case wishes to
start a homebased business for raising/selling feed-
er insects. The residence is located at 4573 Bender
Rd, Middleville, MI (parcel 08-14-021-014-20) per
Thornapple Township Zoning Ordinance 5.3 (j).Any interested person may attend the public hearings
to learn about the extent and location of Special Use
requests to offer comments to the Planning Com-
mission. A copy of the application noted above may
be examined in the Township offices at the address
noted above during regular business hours. Monday- Thursday 9am- 4pm
Written comments regarding these applications
may be addressed to: Secretary Sandy Rairigh,
Thornapple Township Planning Commission, P.O.
Box 459, Middleville, MI 49333,
or submitted via email to:
[email protected]Americans with Disabilities Notice
Persons with special access needs should contact
the Township Clerk at 269-795-7202 no less than 72
hours before the hearings.
Cindy Ordway, Thornapple Township Clerk213331PUBLIC NOTICE
GAINES CHARTER TOWNSHIP
BOARD MEETING SYNOPSIS
February 12, 2024
The Gaines Charter Township
Board held a regular meeting on
Monday, February 12, 2024 and
took the following actions.
- Reviewed the Consent
Agenda. - Approved the Meeting
Agenda - Approved the Consent
Agenda - Approved the Road Closure
Request for the 2024 Diemer 5K - Extended the Metro Act
contract to 2029 - Approved the utility bill re-
lief request for 1024 Harvester in
the amount of $550. - Approved the utility bill re-
lief request for 1359 Penncross in
the amount of $613. - Approved the private road
waiver request for 933 76th Street - Approved the platted par-
cel division for 559 68th Street - Accepted the recom-
mendation of the Planning Com-
mission and approve the Cooks
Crossing Enclave Site Condo-
minium preliminary site plan with
conditions noted - Accepted the 2023 Plan-
ning Department Annual Report
as submitted - Discussed the increase in
Kent County Sheriff Department
calls to Pine Rest Christian Men-
tal Health Services. - Adjourned the Regular
Board Meeting at 8:13 pm
A complete copy of the min-
utes of these meetings and any
resolutions or ordinances adopt-
ed at the meeting are on file and
available for review at the Gaines
Charter Township office, 8555
Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Caledo-
nia, Michigan 49316. Ordinanc-
es, meeting schedules, meeting
minutes, and other Township
information are also available at
http://www.gainestownship.org.
Michael Brew
Gaines Charter Township Clerk
I-94 to Exit 104 | 11177 Michigan Avenue | Battle Creek, MI 49014
Must be 21 or older. Tickets based on availability. Schedule subject to change.
Tickets available now at the FireKeepers Box Office
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MICHAELS
PARTI-GRAS
FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 2BIG & RICH
SATURDAY, MARCH 16
RODNEY CARRINGTON
FRIDAY, APRIL 5NOTHIN’ BUT A
GOOD TIME
MONTELL JORDAN, ALL 4 ONE,
C&C MUSIC FACTORY
& COLOR ME BADD
FRIDAY, MARCH 8FK-51760_Mar_MPA_EntBW_3.22x4.indd 1FK-51760_Mar_MPA_EntBW_3.22x4.indd 1 2/22/24 12:14 PM2/22/24 12:14 PMThe Thornapple Kellogg varsity competitive cheer team is welcomed to the mat at the MHSAA Division 2
Competitive Cheer Finals inside Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena in Mt. Pleasant Saturday, March- (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Thornapple Kellogg senior Kenady Smith looks on from he background and
applauds as the Allen Park varsity competitive cheer team celebrates its state
championship at the MHSAA Division 2 Competitive Cheer Finals inside Central
Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena in Mt. Pleasant Saturday, March 2. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)See CHEER, next page