The Kelly Walsh Dance Team took home their 11^th state title at the WHSAA State Spirit Competition on March 7^th. Although it was very close, Kelly Walsh came in 2^nd behind Rock Springs for the jazz state title. Luckily, in the hip-hop category, Kelly Walsh beat Rock Springs by 5 points. Rock Springs, for the past couple of years, has been the dance team’s biggest rivals in both the hip-hop and jazz categories.

“I feel that the rivalry keeps us on our toes, it’s nice to have someone who wants to beat you because it makes us work 10 times harder”, said Mariah Hartgrave, a senior.

The dance team practiced every morning at 5:55 starting on the 2^nd day of school.

“Nobody really likes morning practices, but they are one of the reasons we are so successful”, said Lexi Howery a junior.

They started to learn their hip-hop routine in October and the jazz routine in November. All the while they also learned and perfected half time performances for football and basketball games.

“I really like performing at basketball games because there’s more people there to cheer us on!” said Zoe Neville, a sophomore.

This year was a very busy year for the dance team, as they competed at the Universal Dance Association’s National Competition in Orlando, Florida, in February. When they returned from Nationals, there was less than a month left until the state competition. Their national hip-hop team only had 10 dancers; by state there were 16 dancers. They completely changed the beginning of the dance when they got back from Nationals and had to change a few other parts since 6 girls were added.

“I think having more girls dancing behind me motivated me more. There was more energy on the floor, and it opened my eyes to how talented the underclassmen are. They stepped up to the plate when it came time for state”, said Caitlinne Chenoweth, a senior.

This was the Kelly Walsh Dance Team’s 9^th consecutive year winning a state title.

“It was super cool to win all four years of my high school career because not a lot of alumni can say they won 4 consecutive titles so its sweet to be one of them”, said Haylie Hasbrouck a senior.

After the state spirit competition was over the dance team performed their state routines again at state basketball. Now the season is over and try outs for the 2018-2019 season are April 19^th and 20^th.