SHELBY — Whitehall, which has battled injury throughout the season, took fifth place Wednesday at the West Michigan Conference jamboree in Shelby, with just one more league meet left.
The Vikings will get to host that one next Wednesday; it's a make-up of a snowout from earlier this season.
The Vikings scored 635.14 points, but their fifth-place finish was somewhat deceiving as it was only about 51.5 points behind the jamboree winner, North Muskegon. The WMC has been closer this season at the top than in past years, when a pecking order often established itself early and rarely changed much.
Whitehall might have been even better but for a tough round three. The Vikings entered the final round in second place after an impressive 192.04 points in round two, which ranked second and was well clear of much of their competition. The final round, though, resulted in a 236.2-point score, which knocked the Vikings backwards.
Assistant coach Claire English, just a couple seasons out of high school cheer herself, said she's been impressed with the Vikings' resilience over the course of the season. No doubt injury issues played a factor in the final round, which always features the most difficult - and collaborative - stunts of any of the three, requiring precise timing that's hard to develop in a short time.
"With having different girls out almost every single week, I feel like, with injuries, our team has really stepped up and is coming to learn each round, whether they're in it that week or not," English said. "They're always ready to go in if need be. We just have a really supportive group of girls."
English added that the Vikings have made catching up to Hart, which placed second Wednesday, their goal. That likely gives them something in common with the rest of the league, as the Pirates are pursuing their seventh straight league championship.
A more manageable goal, though, has been improvement, and the Vikings seem to be poised for success achieving that.
"Beating ourselves (from the week before) is always our main goal," English said. "Of course, we want to be first place, but it's not always attainable, especially when we're under pressure like this. Our goal every single week is just to beat our last score."
Montague took sixth, scoring 611.8 points. Coach Penny Grinage-Guy was satisfied with the performance, saying the Wildcats had been running seventh in the league in prior meets. The Wildcats had an excellent third round, with 270.4 points, which ranked third in the conference and was only 1.6 points behind first-place North Muskegon.
Two Wildcats are only just now returning from injury, Grinage-Guy said, and still can't compete in the final two rounds due to the added stress it would put on those ailments. However, the results were still solid, and the coach said she feels her team is jelling at the right time.
"They're starting to work as a team," Grinage-Guy said. "They're starting to understand that you can't just walk out there without practicing. I was very pleased with their performance, even if we would have stayed seventh like we've been. As a coach, when things start jelling together, you get excited. We have two and a half more weeks, and I'm excited to see where we can go.
"We're finally healthy. We're finally coming to practice. We're putting forth effort. They're finally starting to click."
