Cheerleading
Geneva HS Class of 1989
Inducted Class of 2013
Gretchen was a catalyst in helping the Geneva High School Cheerleading team win its first 3 Section V Championships and 3 Finger Lakes East League titles under coach Sherry Wild. A self-taught gymnast, Gretchen set the bar high for herself and her teammates to push cheerleading away from the stereotype"rah-rah" girls to the competitive, athletic performances that all of Section V were now expecting from Geneva.
Gretchen broke into the top 6 place-winners of the Senior Individual Competition of the Greece Invitational Tournament (now the Greater Rochester Invitational). She was the first Geneva cheerleader to do so. Her leadership, athleticism, and will to win also drove her team on to win the Grand Championships at the Gates Cheer & Dance Competition, the Greece Invitational (Greater Rochester), and to win Geneva's first ever National Bid to compete in Dallas, Texas at the National Cheerleaders Association National Competition. Gretchen was also co-captain her senior year and team MVP.
Gretchen also lettered in swimming and track and field. In swimming she was an all-league selection as a sophomore in the 100 backstroke and the 200 medley relay. She competed in the sectionals all four years in the same two events with many top ten finished. In track she was part of a 4x800 relay team which set a school record that still stands today and was on the 4x100 relay team that won a sectional championship in 1989. She was awarded the Bardeen Award as the outstanding female athlete her senior year. Gretchen is a graduate of William Smith College and Old Dominion University. Her brother Steve was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.