Page 10/The Sun and News, Saturday, December 4, 2021
The River
Dec. 9th supportClassmates Care
Donate new or gently used
warm winter accessories of
any size to clothe TK Students
at any open house location!
You can also make a financial
contribution of any amount to
help “shop” for a special size.Dec. 11th support
Feeding Middleville
Families
Bring a non-perishable item
when you come the events
downtown and help us fill a
trailer with food to help with
Christmas baskets and stock
our Middleville food pantries.Dec. 10th support
Serenity Village
Hospice House
Purchase a bag to place in the
Luminary Walk or make a
donation of any amount to help
fund Serenity Village, so that the
terminally ill can live out their
final days in peace and dignity,
surrounded by those they love.GIVING
Each Night, Spread the joy of the season by giving to a local charity:Explore the Holiday Business Open House! Take your
picture with real live Reindeer, visit Santa & Mrs. Claus
under the Gazebo, and ride the Holly Trolley to local
businesses offering crafts, activities, and goodies for children,
free of charge. Visit middlevilledda.org for details.Saturday,
December 11Shop our Handcrafted Holiday Market on Main Street
from noon-4 pm. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be back for a
Christmas Tea & Cocoa under the pavilion, 3:30-5:30 pm.
Festive tables, cookies, cocoa and tea will be provided
by Middleville businesses. Join us at 6:00 pm along Main
Street for our Christmas Parade with Santa & Mrs. Claus,
organized by the Lions Club.Meet on Main Street at 6 pm for our Night of Lights
Luminary Walk, explore the Charlie Brown Christmas
Wonderland, snap “Elfie” photos, enjoy caroling, and much
more. Then, grab a map, hop in the car, and help us judge
the Christmas Light Decorating contest!Scan for
Event DetailsFriday,
December 10Thursday,
December 9Trojan cheer welcomes new flyers, increasing some skills
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Thornapple Kellogg
varsity competitive cheer
team will get included in the
Battle of Barry County for
the first time this year as the
Trojans will show off a
round three performance
during the evening against
the Hastings Saxons which
includes varsity wrestling,
boys’ basketball and girls’basketball games Dec. 10 in
Middleville.
The Trojans will roll out
the mats again as soon as the
evening is through to prep
for the CCCAM ScholarshipInvitational they’re hosting
the next morning, Dec. 11.
TK’s ladies can be ready
under second year head
coach Adrianne Sinkler to
put a solid round three
together so early in the sea-
son thanks to the kind of
experience they have
returning to the mats this
winter from a team that fin-
ished second in the OK
Gold Conference last sea-
son and qualified for the
regional round of the
MHSAA Division 2 State
Tournament.
Sinkler calls her senior
class, “very strong” and
“very versatile.”
The group includes Anna
Benedict, Zoey Thomas,
Aundria Robbe, Katelyn
Baumgartner, Ruby Frei and
Augstine Abshagen, a senior
who hasn’t cheered since
middle school but was who
was welcomed back with
open arms.
The key additions from
the younger group include
sophomore flyer Kenady
Smith, sophomore flyer AvaJahnke, sophomore base
Kailyn Vandenboss and
sophomore base Mali
Holland.
Jahnke is “reliable in the
air and becoming so com-
fortable doing hard, elite
level stunts for our team,”
according to her coach.
Smith is a flyer for the first
time this season after being
a backspot up until last
June.
“I had a feeling she was
going to learn quickly and
look beautiful in the air,”
Sinkler said of Smith. “She
absolutely does. Her height
makes her stick out and her
charismatic personality
makes her so entertaining to
watch.”
Overall, Sinkler sees a
group of go-getters who are
willing to do whatever it
takes for her team. She said
her girls are goal-oriented,
and on the mat have strong
jumps and vocals.
“We are adding in some
new round two skills this
year that haven’t ever been
done at TK. They are hard todo and execute well, but
they come easy to this team
and we are going for it,”
Sinkler said. “We have a
strong and very visual round
one and three and are excit-
ed to show it off.”
Some of those goals the
TK ladies are setting for
themselves this season
include getting back on top
of the OK Gold Conference
and scoring a district cham-
pionship as well.
The top competition for a
conference championship
will come from Cedar
Springs and Kenowa Hills
who were new to the OK
Gold last winter. As far as
fighting for a district cham-
pionship at the end of the
season, the TK girls will
focus on besting the
Hastings Saxons as well as
Sturgis and Gull Lake.
Sinkler also said she is
happy to add assistant coach
Madelynn Lula to the pro-
gram, a former Charlotte
cheerleader who she com-
peted against when she was
in high school at TK.Anna Benedict Experience, but not a lot of
depth for CHS boys’ bowling
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Caledonia varsity
boys’ bowling team lost its
only 2020-2021 state quali-
fier to graduation and its
head coach entering the
2021-2022 campaign.
The program shouldn’t
miss a beat though.
Curt Bisterfeldt is taking
over as head coach and
keeping with him Michale
Shamblin, a three-year
assistant. The Caledonia
boys were second in the OK
Red Conference a year ago,
finishing just three points
behind Hudsvonille despite
winning both the midseason
and postseason tourna-
ments.
The Scots were third at
their Division 1 regionaland just missed a trip to the
state finals as a team.
They’ll have their sights set
on getting to the top of the
conference and regional
standings this season with
the return of senior Alec
Bisterfeldt, junior Ayden
Sulzener and senior Nick
Dykstra.
Alec was an all-confer-
ence bowler in each of the
past three seasons and led
the conference in scoring
average last year.
Sulzener was an all-con-
ference bowler and finished
in the top three in scoring
average in the conference
with the help of a 300-
game. Dykstra earned an
honorable mention all-con-
ference nod in the Red as a
junior.Head coach Bisterfeldt
loves his team’s experience,
but depth is an issue. In all,
the team has four seniors
back.
Hudsonville will likely
be one of the top challeng-
ers for a conference title
this season once again,
along with Grand Haven
and Rockford.
The Scots are set to open
their season today at East
Kentwood’s Kickoff Classic
Invitational and will be at
the Grand Rapids Christian
Invite Dec. 11. The OK Red
Conference season starts
when the Scots visit Jenison
at Fairlanes Dec. 13. The
Scots’ first home dual at
Spectrum Lanes is set for
Dec. 15 against Grand
Haven.Sophomore duo set to lead
Caledonia ladies on the lanes
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
There won’t be a lot of
experience on the lanes for
the Caledonia varsity girls’
bowling team.
Sophomores Kala
Bisterfeldt and Emma
Whitman are the key return-
ees from the Fighting Scot
team that placed fifth in the
OK Red Conference last
winter.
Bisterfeldt led the Scots
in scoring average a yearago and was honorable
mention all-conference in
the Red. Whitman should
compete with her for the
team’s top scoring average
this winter.
Curt Bisterfeldt is in his
first season guiding the pro-
gram as head coach and he
said it is too early to tell
which girls are going to
step up to fill the rest of the
regular varsity line-up.
The Scots will find out
how they fit in with areateams when they take part
in the Dec. 4 East Kentwood
Kickoff Classic Invitational
and the Dec. 11 Grand
Rapids Christian
Invitational.
The OK Red Conference
season begins when the
Scots visit Jenison at
Fairlanes Dec. 13.
Coach Bisterfeldt said he
expects Hudsonville and
Grandville to be duking it
out for the top spot in the
conference this winter.