This week, dance/drill teams hit the floor at two competitions.
Pendleton had a small roster of teams competing in four categories, Jazz, Traditional, Hip Hop, and Pom. Sprague had a heavily attended event with teams sharing routines in the four categories mentioned above, plus two Show teams.
Milwaukie, Lincoln, and Grant Union were the high school teams that made the trip to join the Pendleton hosts for the Hearts in Motion Competition. After sharing three routines, Milwaukie had some exciting gains since their season debut at Sheldon and achieved some state qualifying performances with their Pom and Jazz routines. Milwaukie also walked away with a first place finish in the Pom category against Lincoln.
The other three top placements in the high school categories went to the hosts, Pendleton. Pendleton’s wins in Traditional, Hip Hop, and Jazz included the highest score of the competition with an 82.00 in the Jazz category.
Although a smaller event for the high school teams, Pendleton’s event was a great space for teams to share their work and find themselves on that path to the State Championships in a few weeks.
Sprague hosted the Sprague Dance Festival, with Amity, Astoria, Bend, Glencoe, Lebanon, Newberg, Newport, Oregon City, Philomath, Sherwood, Silverton, South Albany, Sweet Home, Thurston, Valor Christian, West Linn, and Westview in attendance.
In most cases, categories were divided into classifications for separate 1A-4A, 5A and 6A groups. With separate groups, some of the categories had a lonely-line up of one team, but powerful performances nonetheless. Amity held their own in the Traditional (1A-4A) category, achieving a score of 70.06, and Glencoe was the only Jazz (6A) competitor, scoring a 71.72.
Pom (1A-4A), Pom (5A), Jazz (1A-4A), Jazz (5A), Hip Hop (5A), and Show each had a two team line-up for this event. Despite the smaller roster of teams in each category, many of the performances achieved the state qualifying threshold of 70 or higher, so some state-bound teams may be celebrating their newfound qualifications. Many will choose to take two routines to the championships.
For the Pom category, Philomath landed the top spot for 1A-4A. Lebanon took first for the 5A group. Sherwood dominated the day with their Pom routine, receiving a 91.67 and the highest score of the day.
The Jazz category also had some exciting routines with Astoria taking home first place honors for 1A-4A, Silverton continuing their first place streak for the 5A group, and of course Glencoe, mentioned above, rounding out the 6A teams.
Although the 5A Hip Hop group was just a pair of teams, the split between South Albany and Bend was dynamic with less than a point between them, and South earning first place. Astoria was the 1A-4A Hip Hop winner in a field of three teams.
The largest category of the day of five teams was the Hip Hop (6A) category, and with another remarkable score, Sherwood took home the top honors with an 88.89. Sherwood had a third win in the Traditional (6A) category against two other teams, Sprague and Newberg.
Another larger line-up of four teams was the Traditional (5A) category with Silverton earning first place. Silverton remains undefeated with their Traditional and Jazz category line-ups this season, with only a few teams left to be seen against their dynamic routines.
The Show category had two teams, with Sprague continuing their winning streak a second weekend in a row. The roster for the Show division at the State Championships is set, with all six teams that have shared a Show routine qualifying and on their way to the big stage: Clackamas, Canby, Cleveland, Putnam, Sprague, and West Linn. A competitive line-up of some great routines.
Pendleton Competition - First Place Finishes
- Traditional: Pendleton (78.22)
- Pom: Milwaukie (74.61)
- Hip Hop: Pendleton (77.67)
- Jazz: Pendleton (82.00)
- all results
Sprague Competition - First Place Finishes
- Traditional (6A): Sherwood (81.11)
- Traditional (5A): Silverton (81.61)
- Traditional (1A-4A): Amity (70.06)
- Hip Hop (6A): Sherwood (88.89)
- Hip Hop (5A): South Albany (75.44)
- Hip Hop (1A-4A): Astoria (71.78)
- Pom (6A): Sherwood (91.67)
- Pom (5A): Lebanon (76.56)
- Pom (1A-4A): Philomath (70.00)
- Jazz (6A): Glencoe (71.72)
- Jazz (5A): Silverton (80.94)
- Jazz (1A-4A): Astoria (71.83)
- Show: Sprague (81.22)
- all results
The final weekend of competitions before the OSAA State Championships are this weekend, March 8. Teams will head out to Forest Grove, Philomath, and Centennial (Metro) for the final opportunities to share their work before the big event at the Salem Pavilion on March 21 and 22.
Every year, the Dance & Drill Coaches Association (DDCA), a membership organization of coaches, judges and associates that organizes and oversees Dance/Drill in Oregon, takes some time to recognize some outstanding members of the Dance/Drill community. Coach of the Year awards, Assistant Coach of the Year awards, Service Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award nominations were submitted recently by the membership. Final winners of these awards will be announced after the season ends, but until then, congratulations to the outstanding coaches nominated for the Coach of the Year awards:
Coach of the Year Nominees
- 6A: Ally Carney (Tualatin), Elle Marlett (Reynolds)
- 5A: Ryan Sanford (Milwaukie), Danielle Schneider (Parkrose)
- 1A-4A: Ashleigh Romero (Grant Union), Debbie Kishpaugh (Pendleton), Ally Britton (Scappoose)
Assistant Coach of the Year Nominees
- 6A: Criss Haneberg (Cleveland), Hailey Coulter (Sherwood), Emily Salter Cook (Sprague)
- 5A: James Healey (Canby), Wes Wachob (Parkrose)
- 1A-4A: Chloe Seets (Marshfield), Piper Besst (Pendleton), Danielle Upton (Valley Catholic)
healeyjamesr@gmail.com
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