Mustangs break through with school's first-ever pompon title

(YPSILANTI, MI – February 12, 2024): A year ago, Marian pompon walked off the floor at the George Gervin Game Above Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) disappointed in their finish.

This year, tears were replaced with permanent smiles.

Over 60 middle school, junior varsity high school and even college teams competed in nine divisions of Mid-American Pompon (MAPP) state championships at the Game Above Center.

This season, the Mustangs were placed in the C/d division following their qualifying performance at the Regional Championship held at the Dow Events Center in Saginaw, January 20. At each of the two regionals held statewide, there are no true place order finishes announced. Instead, teams that score over 80% of their possible points advanced to the Finals.

In total, six teams qualified in the C/D Varsity Division. While Hemlock was the favorite going in, Marian was emboldened by a strong performance earlier in the week at the Catholic High School League (CHSL) Pompon Championship held at Divine Child High School.

"We finished tied for second place," Carmen Shemami '27 said. "We dropped a pom, but still had a great performance. We knew we could compete for a championship."

Hemlock was seemingly the team to beat, but with the Mustangs slotted to perform last, they were able to see their competition and prepare mentally.

"We knew we could do it if we had a great performance," said Pippa Dawson '26. "It (performing) felt great and we thought we would be top three, but just didn't know where."

When the final announcement was made, it was learned that Marian just barely edged Hemlock in the final standings, 436.5 to 435.5 – just one point.

The future looks bright for the team. With no graduating seniors on the 11-person squad, the ground work has already been laid for head coach Alexa Slater during the 2024-25 season.