Notre Dame Prep Repeats D3 Dominance
March 7, 2015
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – As the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep competitive cheer team exited the mat after their final round, several of the girls raised two fingers up and pointed toward their cheering section.
The Fighting Irish refused to be coined one-hit wonders.
A year after capturing the program’s first MHSAA title, Notre Dame Prep repeated in Saturday’s Division 3 Competitive Cheer Final at The DeltaPlex.
“Our theme this year was ‘more than one’,” Fighting Irish coach Beth Campbell said. “It’s been a steady climb for us the last few years and we’re so proud of our kids.”
Notre Dame Prep led from start to finish, cementing back-to-back championships with the Final’s high scores in all three rounds and a 773.68 total.
The Fighting Irish held off a challenge from Richmond, which tallied a score of 767.70 and placed among the top two for the fourth time in five years.
Armada (761.90) was third, while perennial contender Comstock Park (759) suffered a fall in Round 3 and slipped to fourth.
“We knew Richmond and Comstock Park wanted to win and bring it back to their schools, but we knew we had the talent and we stayed focused on us,” said Campbell, whose team went undefeated throughout the season in Division 3.
“Anytime you are the defending state champions there’s a target on your back, and the year before we were underdogs. I feel like defending a state championship was 25 times harder. Keeping it was a real challenge, but I think my girls decided a long time ago that they were going to defend it.”
It’s believed that the Fighting Irish achieved a school milestone as well with their second straight title.
“I’m pretty sure we’re the first sport in school history to win state titles back-to-back, so that’s an honor right there,” senior Alysa Gonzalez said. “And we also have 16 team tucks in Round 3 and only one other school has that and they are not in our division. It’s just remarkable.”
Senior Olivia Riley never imagined ending her competitive cheer career with a pair of MHSAA Finals crowns.
“I never dreamed coming into high school that I would be winning two state championships, but here I am,” she said. “There was definitely a lot of pressure on us, but we worked hard all year and we knew it would work out in the end.”
Notre Dame Prep was fueled all season by an inner drive to succeed, but also stayed focused on the task at hand.
“This team has been consistent all year long,” Campbell said. “We don’t always have our perfect rounds, but we deliver in every single round. We stayed the course, and it was closer than we would’ve liked, but our team was so focused on what their goal was. They kept taking it one round at a time and didn’t get ahead of themselves.”
The Fighting Irish scored 233.50 in Round 1 to gain the early momentum. They carried it over into the final two rounds with scores of 226.48 and 313.70, respectively.
“We know every year if you win Round 1, you win a state championship, and so we knew we had to get our lead in Round 1,” Riley said.
Richmond was within two points of Notre Dame Prep in each round, but was unable to gain any ground.
Still, Blue Devils coach Kelli Matthes was thrilled with the effort by her team.
“We’re happy,” she said. “We wanted to come in today and have our best three rounds of the year. The kids have worked hard to clean up all the bits and pieces the last two weeks in Districts and Regionals.
“Are some of the kids disappointed? Well sure, everybody wants to win, but they’re going home with a trophy and a medal around their neck.”
Richmond finished outside of the top two a year ago with an inexperienced team, and this year’s squad also was youthful with only three seniors.
Its roster consisted of 12 sophomores and seven freshmen.
“Last year our team was extremely young and new, and this year we still had 19 of our 24 kids who were underclassmen,” Matthes said. “Our senior leadership has been fabulous, and our goal all year was to keep on plugging and that’s what we did.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Notre Dame Prep finishes a routine en route to repeating as Division 3 champion. (Middle) Runner-up Richmond competes Saturday at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex.
Stoney Creek Edges Rival Rochester to Earn 1st Finals Repeat in Any Sport
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2025
MOUNT PLEASANT – Rochester High was “the team” for most of this season in competitive cheer.
But at the end, an extremely young Rochester Hills Stoney Creek team matured and improved just enough to prevail by a razor-thin margin in front of a loud and raucous crowd Friday at the Division 1 Competitive Cheer Final at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena.
The Cougars had only three seniors on a 30-athlete roster, but the youngsters handled the pressure of the big stage to win with 792.38 points, edging Rochester (792.06) by a mere 32 hundredths of a point.
“That’s why I don’t look at scores, because I know it’s going to be pretty much a tie between the three of us every round,” said Stoney Creek coach Tricia Williams, referring also to the third powerhouse team from the city, Rochester Adams.
“I just focus on trying to get every last tenth of a point that we can.”
The pressure was intense Friday as Stoney Creek had to go last in Round 3, after near-flawless performances from both Rochester and Adams, which meant that even a slight bobble or mistake would drop the Cougars out of the top spot.
Instead, the young team delivered an inspired performance of its own to win for the second consecutive year – the first back-to-back Finals championships for Stoney Creek in any sport.
“We loved going last in Round 3,” explained Williams. “These kids don’t mind that at all. These kids can handle the pressure.”
Adams placed third with 788.62 points, followed by Hartland (786.06) and Brighton (785.12).
Rochester, which had 10 seniors, won the Oakland Activities Association Red and District titles, before Stoney Creek surged past them at both Regionals and the Finals.
Rochester third-year coach Samantha Dean, whose Falcons had to go first in Round 3, thought her team’s powerhouse performance in the final round was enough for the title.
“We went for it this year with our creativity and challenging the girls, and I think our Round 3 was definitely the most difficult today,” said Dean. “We were able to execute it to perfection.”
Rochester was looking to get back to the top spot after winning in 2023. Adams, which placed third, had placed either first or second for the past seven years in a row.
Sarah Adams – one of three seniors for the Cougars and the emotional leader of the team – was overcome with pride after going out as a back-to-back champion.
“These girls mean everything to me,” said Adams, wiping away tears. “There’s so much that goes into what you see out there. We stay in our bubble and push each other and encourage each other.”
She also acknowledged that having Rochester and Adams in the same District – all three schools are within four miles of each other – is a daily motivation.
“It’s such a blessing for us to have each other,” explained Adams. “It’s a huge rivalry, but it draws the best out of all of us.”
The other seniors for the Cougars were Sienna Wills and Grace Perrera. Junior Natalie Marco was a returning honorable mention all-stater.
PHOTOS (Top) Rochester Hills Stoney Creek competes during Friday's Division 1 Final at McGuirk Arena. (Middle) Rochester High competes on the way to finishing runner-up.