Pontiac

NDP cheer garners No. 3 ranking, breaks school records

By Sue Teggart
C & G Sports Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Patricia O’Blenes The Pontiac Notre Dame Preparatory competitive cheer team performs its winning routine during the Jan. 29 Berkley Bear Invitational. The Fighting Irish scored 725.8404 points to top the D-3 field at the event. Photo by Patricia O’Blenes The Pontiac Notre Dame Preparatory competitive cheer team performs its winning routine during the Jan. 29 Berkley Bear Invitational. The Fighting Irish scored 725.8404 points to top the D-3 field at the event.

PONTIAC — The Pontiac Notre Dame Preparatory competitive cheer team has a lot to cheer about this season, so to speak.

After finishing eighth in last year’s Division 3 state finals, the Fighting Irish picked up where they left off by turning in top performances early into the 2010-11 campaign.

NDP won the D-3 Competitive Cheer Coaches Association of Michigan Invitational at Wyandotte Dec. 12 with 707.24 points and finished fourth overall trailing D-2 teams Carlson, Wyandotte and Divine Child.

So far this year, the squad won the Jan. 8 Utica Stevenson Invitational by topping the field with 772.9320 points — a school record at the time. The Fighting Irish followed up by winning the Jan. 22 Warren Mott Invite and set a new school record in total score with 779.18 points.

Prep also broke two other school records with a 234.3 in Round 1 and a Round 2 score of 227.184 at Mott.

“Every year they’ve gotten better,” said Rachel Woolbright, a former University of Michigan cheerleader who is in her fourth season coaching at NDP. “Every year they’ve broken a school record. We haven’t had a stagnant season since I’ve been here. I think the girls’ drive has gone up. They see what the program can do and they want it.”

Junior Gabrielle Guzzardo, a three-year member from Shelby Township, has witnessed consistent strides forward.

“When Rachel came in she really built the program from the ground up,” Guzzardo said. “When you look back on our scores you can see major improvements.”

Gaining recognition
Besides scoring higher than its state finals squad did, NDP is earning recognition by the Michigan High School Competitive Cheer Coaches 10 best scores by Round in Division 3.

At press time Prep led in three categories: Round 1, scoring 234.3 of 240 possible points; Round 3, tallying 320.1of 330 possible points; and total score, tallying 779.1840 of 828.48 possible points.

Additionally, the squad was top three or better in the remaining categories. In Round 2, NDP collected 227.1840 of 258.48 possible points; and had the third highest average total score of 749.6274 points.

To top it off, Prep garnered a No. 3-ranking in D-3 in the Jan. 31 MHSCCC poll and was as high as No. 2 in weeks prior.

“They’ve been really working on being clean in their rounds,” Woolbright said, adding that Round 3 is the squad’s strongest. “We’re able to incorporate things that look good but that we can personally make them clean.

“A big part of Round 3 is execution. You get bonus points if you score really well on execution. We’re getting those extra points every single competition because we’re clean. That’s made our scores jump up a lot.”

Young but talented
Prep has managed to accomplish quite a bit with just one senior on its roster.

“They’re young,” said Woolbright. “I have 11 sophomores and seven freshmen, and five juniors.

“We’ve been really focusing on one team,” she continued. “Nobody is going to know that you’re a team of all underclassmen.”

Despite their youth, Woolbright said the Irish are the most skilled they’ve been while she has coached at the school.

“We’re competing with 16 back handsprings and back walkovers which is the most we’ve ever had on the mat,” she said. “This year, with girls gaining skills and freshmen coming in, we’re able to put more girls on the mat. Even before I was here they’ve never put 16 on the mat.”

Woolbright credits her squad’s success and growth to having competed at the state finals.

“They jumped significantly just in one year,” she said. “This program has grown so much. When I started there were 16 girls and that was it. Every year it’s gotten bigger. Now, there are 24 girls in competitive and we have a sideline team.

“The goal is to keep growing the program.”
 

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Sue Teggart at steggart@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1107.