Divine Child's cheerleading team wins Sunday's competitive cheer competition. DC has won the Catholic League title now for nine years straight. Click the above photo to view a gallery from this weekend's competition. | Photo by Alan Piñon
CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY OF SUNDAY’S COMPETITION
Livonia – Nine years in a row, Dearborn Divine Child is the Catholic High School League competitive cheer champion.
Time to celebrate? Maybe a day off tomorrow?
“Nope,” says Coach Amber Genevich. “We have a lot of work to do. It gets tougher from this point on.”
Sunday afternoon, the Falcons outpointed runner-up Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in the compulsory round by 23.8 points to clinch an overall 39-point victory, 791-752, before an appreciative crowd of 600 people at Livonia Ladywood. Divine Child held a slim 8-point edge over the Fighting Irish in the opening formations round and a 7-point advantage in the stunts and tumbling round.
“We were just more skillful,” said Genevich, in her sixth year as varsity cheer coach at Divine Child after six years with the junior varsity.
That Notre Dame came as close as it did to winning the CHSL title for the first time since 1998 was a remarkable accomplishment. Coach Rachel Woolbright revealed that “one of our best players” suffered a fractured vertebra after last Thursday’s practice.
“She was in all three rounds. We had to change everything in all of our routines. We practiced a long time on Friday . . . it was wonderful how the team pulled together.”
Woolbright acknowledged that the Irish need “more work in gymnastics.” About the Falcons, she said, “They’re awesome.”
Injuries played a major role in host Ladywood’s third place showing (697.4 total). Its roster was slimmed down by three players who were sidelined by a fractured foot, broken wrist and a concussion.
Perhaps no team has ever been more elated finishing last than Clarkston Everest Collegiate, ending up with a 603.4 score behind Madison Heights Bishop Foley (631) in the five-team field.
“This is our first time. It’s an unbelievable experience,” gushed coach Nancy Burgess, whose resume includes a cheerleading scholarship to Hawaii Pacific University.
“We didn’t get started until November. None of the girls could even do the splits. But through a lot of prayer and hard work, we’re here. Where’s everybody else?”
Everest will have its first senior class in the fall. It has an enrollment of 66 students and is anticipating an incoming freshman class that will push it over 100 in September.
“I want everyone to know that we are for real,” Burgess said.
No one questions that. The Falcons have their own built-in farm system with competitive cheer offered on a CYO level in the seventh grade, then advancing to freshmen and junior varsity levels.
“The girls fall in love with the program,” said Genevich (nee Lopez), a 1998 graduate of Divine Child and a member of cheer teams then. “About 95 percent of the kids stay with the program to their senior year.”
Junior Catia Sabak is a good example of one who has moved up through the ranks, though she didn’t arrive at DC until the ninth grade.
“She was looking for some good exercise and some camaraderie,” said her mother, Linda.
Catia and her teammates get plenty of both. There’s a break in the action after the state finals in March until practices resume in May, followed by a three-day intensive summer camp and then 2-3 hour practices five days a week once school is in session.
Oh, then, there are the weekends. Almost every one from late November to mid-February has an invitational meet of one kind or another scheduled throughout the state.
“Yesterday we were in Lake Orion,” said Linda, who teaches English at St. Robert Bellarmine school. “We got there at 12 noon, didn’t leave until 7:30 at night (there were 27 schools competing), got home around 10, and then had to be at Divine Child this morning.”
Next Saturday, the Falcons will be in nearby Southgate and then in Grand Rapids the following week.
It’s a lifestyle that the students’ families put up with and enjoy. “We’re a close-knit family,” said Linda. Lunches and dinners are common. The girls get together to “do their hair . . . we become friends forever.”
The “tougher”part of the schedule that Genevich referred to begins with the state tournament districts Feb. 18-19, the regionals Feb. 26 and the finals March 5 in Grand Rapids.
That’s one journey the coach and team won’t mind taking.
Last year, Divine Child finished third in Division II, just 8.6 points behind champion Allen Park.
“You can mark this down,” she said. “This year we’re going to win!”
