WHITEHALL — Montague displayed the toughness coach Penny Grinage-Guy has hoped to see from her team Wednesday night at the West Michigan Conference jamboree in Whitehall, earning second place with 625.14 points.
The Wildcats had the highest round three score of any team - 262.6 - an especially remarkable feat considering what happened the week prior at Fremont. Montague's final round that day was "a disaster," Grinage-Guy said, unfortunately including a concussion for one athlete.
Montague had to tweak its lineup for the third round Wednesday because of the injury, and the team delivered in a big way to finish only six points behind first-place Mason County Central.
"We had another girl (in at tumbler) that just had two days to practice because of snow days," Grinage-Guy said. "The fact that they hit all their stunts in round three, that was icing on the grit cake, so to speak."
The jamboree was closer than usual at the top because Hart, the usual WMC leader, was assessed 34 penalty points in round two and fell from the top spot, opening the door for other teams. Grinage-Guy said the team was aware of the shakeup at the top and was hoping to finish strong enough to maintain its third-place position.
"We didn't talk about Hart specifically, but I just said going into round three in third (place), I said, 'All you have to do is put a solid round out and you'll probably stay third,'" Grinage-Guy said. "Not only did they stay at third, they moved up a notch."
Whitehall scored 593.46 points to finish fifth. Coach Karlie Sika said the Vikings improved from last week's performance, though they were disappointed not to be able to move up higher in the standings.
"We definitely knew if we stuck round three that there was an opportunity to move ahead," Sika said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't, but we were close. We just have little things we have to improve on as we move into next week."
Sika said the biggest thing Whitehall needs is to grow more confident in its ability as a team, which would boost its chances of executing the skills it's working on.
"That's just shown throughout every round," Sika said. "Transition, movements, vocals, we need to be louder. Just putting more passion into what we're doing, I think, is what we need to put on the floor."
