The Lakeland Hawks Dance Team has wrapped up their season at the state tournament. The dance performed well but unfortunately did not place, but they still had an outstanding season overall.
The dance team started their season at the Prairie Classic competition at Lakeland High School on Dec. 2, where they would capture Grand Champions, placing first in dance, pom, military and hip hop.
Lilly Still and Rowan McKinzie took first in their duo. Leeann Lohf and Kambree Marreel took second, and Maddy Hasz and Keona Roemermann took third on their respective teams.
Claire Kelley took first place in the solo division. Emma Marshall took second place and Aly Caywood took third place in solos.
Kelly was very proud of how this year went for the team and herself.
“This year, I really helped lead the team into being more connected and being more of a unit,” Kelley said.
Building off the success of their first competition, the dance team had a couple of weeks to prepare for the Winter Spirit Competition at Post Falls High School on Jan. 16. The Hawks also took first place and swept the competition again, taking first place in dance, military, hip-hop and pom.
Claire Kelley took first place in the solo category, Aly Caywood took second place and Emma Marshall took third place. Marshall also won the FireCracker award.
For the duo category, Kambree Morrell and Leeann Lohf took first place, Lily Still and Rowan McKinzie took second place, and Keona Roemermann and Maddy Hasz took third.
During the individual contest, Caywood took first in the high kick, Kelley took first place in the toe touch, with Caywood taking third. In the improved category, Kelley took second, with Caywood taking third.
“It went really well,” Kelley said. “We won every comp, and we worked as a team a lot this year and accomplished a lot of our goals.”
Following this competition, the Hawks had a couple more weeks to prepare for the next round, the Vandal Spirit Challenge at the University of Idaho.
Once again, the Hawks swept the competition, winning first in their military, hip-hop, dance and pom routines.
Claire Kelley was named Miss Vandal Spirit Challenge, taking first place in her solo. Caywood took second, and Marshall placed third in the solos as well. Still, McKinzie again took first place in the duo’s division, with Roemermann and Loph taking second place.
This wrapped up the regular season for the Hawks. Going into the State tournament, the Hawks were crowned district champions, as Moscow High School and Sandpoint High School did not have dance teams.
Once state came around, LHS performed well, earning fifth place in the Military Routine and sixth place in the Lyrical division.
“I think we could have cleaned up our routines and made them more challenging earlier in the season,” Kelley said.
The Hawks are gearing up to place at state next year and bring home some hardware.