Burn out has yet to rear its ugly head for the Lake Orion High School varsity competitive cheerleading team.
The team is about one month into the season, and with a few competitions already under their belt head coach Nancy DeAvila said they are still going strong.
“They’re doing great,” she said. “I’ve been able to maintain a day off every week. That will soon change to every other week. I don’t see any burn out…no injuries. I attribute that to getting rest.”
Lake Orion placed third in their first competition of the year and first at their second before placing second in Class A at the Lake Orion Invite on Jan. 25.
Rochester won the competition with 752.5 points, Lake Orion had 695.5, while Port Huron Northern was third with 647. Oxford finished fourth with 643.5.
“In the first round the girls had a false start, which was really my fault,” DeAvila said. “But they recovered beautifully. Our scores were consistent.”
Lake Orion scored 305.5 points in the third round.
“It was beautiful…I was very pleased with the performance in all three rounds. Rochester was amazing,” said DeAvila. “I was really proud of our girls for sticking with them.”
DeAvila said Lake Orion’s score was five points lower in this competition then it was the previous week.
“But our performance was better. This was our first pressure situation,” she said. “We also avenged an earlier season loss to Oxford.”
DeAvila said she was impressed with Rochester’s performance.
“They are four-time state champions…This year’s team is better than the four previous teams,” she said.
Lake Orion will travel to the league meet at West Bloomfield on Saturday, and compete against Rochester again, along with Troy and Troy Athens.
“I anticipate our goal will be to stay close to Rochester,” said DeAvila. “We will see them a lot.”
Three teams; Oxford, Port Huron Northern and Lapeer East; that were at the Lake Orion Invite will also compete in the regional competition with Lake Orion on Feb. 22.
“So that was a good practice for us for regionals as well,” said DeAvila.
Lake Orion High School will host the competitive cheerleading state finals for Class A and Classes C and D on March 1. Class B finals will be held at Oxford.