Dance team brings school its first state title
A mere eight years old, Vernon Hills High School earned its first state athletics championship Sunday with a victory in a downstate dance competition.
The varsity pompom team scored the top trophy in an open dance division at the TEAMDance Illinois State Championships in Peoria.
The team also placed second in open pom, and ninth in a hip hop category.
Although school was closed Monday for Casimir Pulaski Day, the squad was welcomed back to Vernon Hills as heroes. Police and fire vehicles escorted them to the campus, where they were greeted by classmates, parents, teachers and administrators.
Head coach Brittany Henley, hoarse from a day of cheering, was proud of the girls' accomplishment.
"These girls are probably the most dedicated, headstrong and talented group of young girls that I've had the privilege to be around," Henley said. "When they put their mind to something, there's no stopping them."
Other first-place winners included squads from Crystal Lake Central, Fremd, Jacobs, Palatine, Schaumburg, St. Charles North and Stevenson.
Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 spokeswoman Mary Todoric called the Vernon Hills team's victory "an amazing accomplishment" for such a young school.
"There are a lot of schools that have been around longer than we have that … do not have a state championship," she said.
TEAMDance Illinois is a Geneva-based nonprofit dance and flag team alliance.