Creek’s Poms team performed strongly during the National Dance and Cheer Championships in Orlando, Florida, finishing 3rd in Poms and 8th in Jazz. The entire team put in countless hours of practice and dedication to reach the National competition.

“I am so proud of what we put out on the floor [during Nationals]” junior Ella Reeves said. “I would say just the feeling of getting the opportunity to dance there was probably the best.” 

The Poms team has been a high-ranking part of Creek’s athletics program for many years and has consistently improved year after year. This competition season, the team and their coaches pushed themselves to the limit to achieve their best results yet. The team worked hard to perfect their routines and competed against teams from all over the region.

According to Junior Annika Rouse, to prepare for the Nationals, everyone on the team took on a challenging and intense practice schedule.  

“On weekends, we have 12-hour practices, and during the weekdays we practice from four to nine every single night,” Rouse said. “But at the end of the day, we got the result that we wanted, and it makes it all worth it.”

“[Poms] is a really big commitment, it can be hard to balance [it] with school and other activities,” Reeves said. “And so sometimes it is quite a push at the end. But it’s definitely worth it, we’re doing what we love.

Historically, Creek has done very well in the Poms section, but in recent years the team has set their sights on a new goal; improving their scores in Jazz, a different type of dance routine. 

“We’ve been really trying to elevate our jazz ability and just push that into the next level,” Rouse said. “We did a great job of that this year. And we’ve made some huge improvements from last year. I think that’s a big focus of our program overall.”

While the team was disappointed to miss out on the top spot, they were proud of their accomplishments and impressed the judges with their skill and technique. 

“I believe that you can’t really compare them like the scores year by year, especially because it’s a different judge panel every single year. You’re also competing against the same teams, but they’re each bringing something new,” Rouse said. “We fell right where we needed to be.”