On Saturday, January 25, the Sterling High School poms team traveled to Sycamore to perform at the IHSA dance sectionals hosted by Sycamore High School. In the past three years, tryouts for a separate competition team were held but this year every basketball poms member competed at the competition. 

  Last year, the competition team consisted of nine members who competed a lyrical routine several times during the basketball season. This year the coaches switched it up and decided on doing a pom routine.

  On Friday, January 24, the team performed the competition dance during the boys varsity basketball game. Practicing the routine on Friday night was a useful dress rehearsal for the dancers. 

  Junior Ellie Kested said, “Running our routine full out with hair, makeup, costumes and an audience is pretty similar to what was going to happen at the competition.” 

  They received new uniforms this season and were able to wear them at the game and the competition. 

  Freshman Ronni Oyen said that her favorite part of the competition was “getting a chance to compete with all of my friends or being able to watch all of the other schools’ dances.”

 Senior poms captain Lillian Reaver has competed on the competition team for all four years of high school and said that her last year of competing “has been a whirlwind of emotions, it is hard to believe that this is my last year competing, but I wouldn’t have wanted to end it with anyone else. This group of girls and the coaches have made the experience enjoyable.”

  Poms co-head coach Jennifer Thueson expressed how she felt the girls did at the competition and said, “As coaches, we are very proud of the team. They spent many hours learning and cleaning the dance, and their performance at sectionals illustrated their hard work and dedication. 

 Overall, the team placed 13th out of the 17 teams that attended the competition in Sycamore. Regardless of the scores of the competition, the team will work even harder during next year’s season.