By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The Lake Orion competitive cheer team heads into their final week of regular-season competition after placing third at the annual LO Invite on Saturday against Allen Park, Grandville and Rochester Adams.

Lake Orion had a rough start, trailing in fourth place by just under three points after the first two rounds. The Dragons were able to mount a slight comeback, finishing in third place with an overall score of 784, their highest overall score of the year.

First place went to defending division two state champions Allen Park with 790.66.

Defending division one state champions Rochester Adams clinched a second-place win with a score of 789, and fourth place went to Grandville with an overall score of 781.26.

“Saturday, next to our very first (competition), is probably one of our toughest competitions of the year. We go against the defending state champion in division one and two,” said head Coach Nicole Hills. “In cheer, it’s a judged sport so you never know what you’re going to get. So our goal, always, every week out, is to improve on the scores we got the week before, stay in it with the best of the best and see where the chips fall.”

The Dragons have made good on their goal to improve their scores each week, going from a third-place finish at the OAA Red League Championship on Feb. 20 to second-place finish at home on Feb. 23 against Rochester, Hartland and Woodhaven high schools before snagging a first-place victory on Feb. 27 at Rochester Adams.

This week, the Dragons may not have placed first, but they did achieve their highest score of the season with 784 points.

The Dragons traditionally fare well in competitive cheer, with last year being their twentieth trip to the state championship.

“We would love to regain our district title; we had the title for five straight years and have lost to Grand Blanc the last three years. So, we really would like to see a strong showing throughout the tournament,” Hills said. “Our last regional championship was 2015 and definitely placing high in regionals and states is the biggest goal. We would like to win our tournaments and get into the top three at the state finals.”

Competitive cheer, like all other high school sports, has undergone season adjustments due to the Coronavirus pandemic that make the season all the more difficult to navigate.

“I would say that’s our biggest challenge (the compacted season). For cheer, we’re really a nine-month sport when you put together the summer and sideline and competitive (seasons), and typically we have like seven months of prep for round three (stunts). This year we had, total stunting, six weeks that wasn’t even consecutive and we had nine practices to put together a round three. So, that has definitely been our biggest challengr, just getting the stunting aspect ready for that third round because that’s one thing the kids can’t practice at home, you can’t practice over Zoom,” said Hills.

With the state championship just around the corner, the Dragon’s, like most other high school teams, are scrambling to put the finishing touches on their stunts routine in time. But the pressure hasn’t weakened the girls in their quest for success this season.

“I think our kids are just so thrilled that they’re getting a season. This has been the most motivated group I’ve coached in a really long time, if ever,” Hills said.

“I think they’re just — you know, because of COVID they don’t go to school every day — they just have been so limited in their social life and there was a lot of time in June, August, November, where we didn’t think we were going to get a season. So, the fact that we are getting one and it’s pretty close to what cheer looks like, we have some different limitations, obviously, wearing masks, but our kids are just working their tails off.

“They’ve been really awesome to coach; it’s been one of my favorite teams by far.”

Lake Orion’s district competition is set to take place on March 20 at Oxford High School.