The varsity dance team received first place ratings in pom, jazz and hip hop at the Class 7A State championship at Bryant Middle School on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Senior Meredith Herring

Before: “I’m definitely confident that we will do well this weekend. I think we’ve prepared a lot better than we have in the past. We’re just really paying closer attention to the details in our routines and spending more time perfecting our tricks in hip hop and our techniques in pom and jazz.”

During: “I was just hoping that everyone would stay focused on what we had to do to win and make our team really strong and clean. I knew that we were going to do our best so that’s what mattered.”

After: “I was the happiest person in the world because all of our hard work finally paid off and we accomplished our goal which was to be state champions so that felt really great.”

Sophomore Jessica Kooiman

Before: “I am confident that we will do good at the tournament because we’ve won all of our competitions so far. We have been working harder by doing more full outs and practicing longer.”

During: “I was really happy because there were a lot of people there and they were all screaming. I wasn’t worried about anything because we went over our routine so many times that it was like embedded in our brains.”

After: “I felt that we did the best we could do and there was no other thing we could’ve done to make it better so it just felt good.”