No Near-Miss This Time as P-W Takes Back Title with Determined Dominance
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
March 6, 2026
MOUNT PLEASANT – After coming oh-so-close the past two years – and finishing second four times over the past six – longtime competitive cheer power Pewamo-Westphalia is back on top.
“The heartbreaking loss last year pushed all of us,” said Ava Simon, one of six seniors on P-W’s 22-girl roster this season. “We just had this fire burning under us ever since we stepped off the mat last year.”
Pewamo-Westphalia scorched the rest of the field at Friday’s Division 4 Finals at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena, posting the best score in all three rounds for a winning 776.34 – nearly 22 points better than runner-up and 2025 champion Hanover-Horton (754.36) – to claim its first title since 2019.
The Pirates were determined to end their recent trend of runner-up finishes, taking a commanding 7.2-point lead after a near-perfect first round, building it up to 17.8 points after Round 2 and then to a final margin of 21.98 points.
P-W coach Staci Myers, a former cheer standout who is now in her 19th year as head coach at her alma mater, said she never considered scaling back her team’s challenging Round 3 routine, even with the big lead.
“Our Round 3 is elite, and we’ve never had one quite like it here at P-W,” said Meyers, who is assisted by Olivia Nurenberg, Amber Martin, Amber Weber and Ramon Beaulieu – all of whom cheered for her at P-W.
“It’s hard and there are some unique things in there, but they step up and perform it flawlessly every time, and they did it again today.”
The Pirates, who have been remarkably consistent all season, posted their season-best score of 780.08 at their District. They were not quite as sharp in winning their Regional at 754.08, but went out with an impressive start-to-finish showing at CMU.
P-W drew plenty of energy from a raucous throng of blue-and-gold-clad fans, who packed their school’s designated section in the middle of the arena and also filled one of the end sections.
The Pirates do not pick captains, but Myers said the team has been led all season by its six seniors – Taryn Schafer, Karsyn Simmon, Karly Bierstetel, Leslie Bernal-Ponce, Brianna Feldpausch and Simon.
“It’s bittersweet right now because us seniors are so close, but we couldn’t have asked for a better ending,” said Bernal-Ponce.
The most drama came with the battle for second place, as Hanover-Horton edged Sanford Meridian (754.12). Hudson, which has won six of the last 10 Division 4 titles, took fourth at 743.32.
Meridian actually posted the second-best scores in Rounds 2 and 3, but still finished 24 hundredths of a point behind Hanover-Horton.
The Comets, who never even had made it to the Finals until 2024 (finishing sixth) before their stunning win last year, took second this time despite losing eight seniors off that championship team. They were hoping to duplicate last year’s accomplishment, when they took second to P-W at Regionals before flipping the script at the Finals, but the Pirates were just too strong.
“We had a little bit of rebuilding to do after last year, no question,” said veteran coach Sarah DuBois, who concluded her fifth year at Hanover-Horton. “But these girls stepped up and did it.”
Pewamo-Westphalia is also a very young team, as 14 of the 22 athletes on the roster were either freshmen or sophomores. The team had only two juniors, with one of them returning all-stater Brynn Feldpausch.
The return of 16 contributors off this championship team bodes well for the future at P-W, which has now won 10 cheer Finals titles.
Legendary coach Sherry Fedewa, who started the program in the 1990s, won six titles while Myers now has won four. The Pirates also have 14 second-place finishes.
“It’s a high bar, that’s for sure,” said Myers, a 2001 P-W graduate. “Our school has had success in a lot of sports and it’s contagious, and everyone wants to experience those feelings.
“We are going to get back to work and try to keep doing it.”
Division 1 Cheer: Titanic Finish
March 2, 2012
GRAND RAPIDS – Moments before its final round Friday, Southgate Anderson launched into an “I believe that we will win” chant with its crew of fans at the Grand Rapids Delta Plex.
A year ago, the Titans came to the MHSAA Division 1 Final with similar confidence – and finished seventh of eight teams at the championship meet.
But this time, with lessons learned, Southgate Anderson backed it up. The Titans scored the meet’s top Round 2 and 3 scores and outlasted surging Hudsonville to win their first MHSAA cheer championship.
“Last year … it was a crushing blow. We couldn’t believe that happened, and we weren’t going to let it happen again,” Titans senior Bri Walsh said. “We worked too hard to let it go. We needed to push through.
“It was a mindset. I’ve never been on a team this dedicated.”
Southgate Anderson scored 816.6032 points Friday, besting its previous top score this season by less than a tenth of a point. Hudsonville, which like Anderson had never finished even among the top two at the Finals, came in second with 813.2976. Rochester Stoney Creek was third with a score of 811.3456.
The Titans’ pre-Round 3 chant carried additional significance because of strong performances the last two weeks. As the regular season came to a close, Southgate Anderson considered itself a strong Round 2 team. For a while before that, the Titans specialized in Round 1.
But just before Districts, Southgate Anderson made some switches in its final routine that paid off big. Also, coach Colette Norscia said the difference between this and past teams was the increased time it spent conditioning. And Walsh agreed that was a difference-maker in the Titans’ being able to land more difficult skills this winter.
Although 16 of Southgate Anderson’s 28 cheerleaders were on the team last year, most of Friday’s competitors watched from the sideline in 2011.
“They were hungry for it last year,” Norscia said. They had an opportunity to see on the sideline what needed to be done, and they took that into the gym this year.”
She admitted that unlike usual, she didn’t look at the scoreboard heading into her team’s Round 3, and had no idea where her team stood. Hudsonville performed its Round 3 later in the final rotation, and Eagles coach Amanda Cooper did look at the scores and knew her team needed to be just about perfect to move into first place.
Hudsonville was nearly flawless and finished nine tenths behind the Titans in that round with a score of 324.600. But the Eagles’ final score was its best this season by nearly three points, and the runner-up finish bested their best previous Finals placing of third in 2010. Hudsonville finished eighth last season.
“We had our best three rounds on the same day here at states, and I can’t ask for anything more,” Cooper said. “We had an amazing week of practice and an amazing warm-up, so I was just excited for them to go out there and nail (Round 3). That’s what we said – just have a clean, fun, solid round.
“Runner-up is awesome. We couldn’t be any happier.”
Click for full results from the Division 1 Final, and check back Saturday night for results from Divisions 2, 3 and 4.
