Hart’s competitive cheer team have overcome adversity and now the Pirates can call themselves district champions.
Hart captured a district title for a second straight season, this time in Division 3 competition Saturday at Grand Rapids West Catholic.
“We had two injuries happen within the past two weeks which brought our numbers down to four girls on the mat,” Hart coach Ashleigh Hildreth said. “It has been 10 years since Hart has thrown standing back tucks in Round 2, but we were able to pull it off today and pull apart from the other teams.
“Our Round 3 is super clean and we got execution bonuses because of that.”
Hart finished first among 15 teams in the district with 727.34 points. Mason County Central was runner-up with 701.92 points. Comstock Park was third in the West Catholic district with 697.44 points, while the host team was fourth with 695.6 points.
The top four teams in each district advance to next Saturday’s regional at Jenison, where competition begins at 10 a.m.
Montague and Whitehall just missed out on qualifying for the regional, as they placed fifth (688.5) and sixth (654.4), respectively.
Hart and Mason County Central both qualified for the Division 4 state finals last season. The Pirates placed fourth and Spartans eighth in the eight-team field.
Hildreth is proud of the fact that her squad keeps finding a way to get the job done and maintain the program’s strong tradition.
“Overall, our team is filled with very talented individuals that have overcome so many challenges throughout the season,” she said. “They truly deserved the win today. I am so incredibly proud of them and all of the hard work they have put in throughout our season.”
