Dance captains react to twin trophies from State Spirit

The two captains of the Lovell High School dance team that brought home two trophies from the Wyoming State Spirit Competition on January 23 expressed pride in the team’s accomplishment.

The Lovell team captured the Class 3A titles in both hip hop and jazz dance at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper.

The team repeated as champions in the 3A Hip Hop Dance category with a score of 74.100, topping a field of seven teams, and won the Jazz Dance category with a score of 72.775, beating three other schools.

“This win means so much to me,” senior captain Ella Spanier said. “In the last four years we’ve overcome a lot of different obstacles, but this year we knew it was our time. With the 3A jazz category leaving next year, we knew we were going to have to push extra hard to get that win before having to compete against 4A teams. In hip hop, we won last year, but it’s no exception, and we definitely walked in a little more nervous trying to defend the title.

“The hours we put into dance practice were no more than any other of the teams; the difference was that we have almost half (of the team) also doing cheer so we were doing double time getting ready for State. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the routines some more until we could do them in our sleep.”

The practice paid off as the team was in top form at State Spirit.

“In the weeks leading up to State we really felt everything fall into place,” Spanier said. “We knew there were little things we needed to fix, but the energy in practice after you would run a routine just felt right; there’s not really a way to describe it. I’m extremely grateful for my team, and I’m very proud of the hard work they put in and for the double win that came with it.

“Facts we learned: This is the first year Lovell has won both the jazz and hip hop category in the same year. And this is only the second time Lovell has won in jazz, the first time being in 2015.”

Junior captain Avery Wardell agreed with her senior counterpart.

“I just want to say I’m proud of all the hard work and dedication we put into our dances,” Wardell said. “It was a long season, but it paid off.”