Area pom squads rev up routines at Fox Valley Conference

From clowns to comic book heroes and traffic signals to Egyptians, area high school pom and dance squads strutted their creative costumes Saturday for TEAMDance Illinois' Fox Valley Conference Championship at Jacobs High School in Algonquin.

Armed with determination and revved-up energy, with a little help from good luck charms, more than 30 suburban schools competed in one of the last regional contests before TDI's state finals in March.

Top three AAA varsity division winners in five categories:

Hip-hop - Lincoln Way Central, HD Jacobs, South Elgin.

Lyrical - St. Charles North, St. Charles East, Lake Park.

Open dance - St. Charles North, Maine South, Barrington.

Pom - Conant, Fremd, Palatine.

Open pom - Barrington, HD Jacobs, St. Charles North.

Kick - Maine South, Fremd, Palatine.

Overall conference champions: junior varsity, Grayslake North pom; varsity, Crystal Lake South kick.

Highest overall artistic score: Maine South kick.

Highest overall technical score: Maine South kick.

Every team has its superstitions and rituals before walking onto the mat.

Hoffman Estates' Conant High School Charrelles varsity pom squad always knocks on wood during competition, "only three times though for luck," said team captain Samantha Gentry, 18.

"We do a chant before we go on," she added.

But beyond the rituals, the key to making it to the state level seems to be continually reinventing routines.

Gentry said that two weeks before the last regional competition in Palatine, the team threw out its earlier villains routine and went with a Batman theme instead and placed second in the competition, earning a spot at state.

This year's varsity competition has been the toughest of the season with teams going neck and neck in all categories, Jacobs coach Kristen Semrich said.

Semrich said the reason is because coaches are working hard with Illinois High School Association officials to make pom/dance a sport at the state competition.

"Cheerleading became a sport five years ago," Semrich said. "We're really five years behind. We practice just as hard, if not harder than any other sport. It may only be a two-minute routine; however, the endurance it takes to keep the stamina to perform it is amazing."

Cassie Garrett, captain of Elk Grove High School's varsity pom squad, said teams change routines to up the ante, tailoring them to the judges' critiques and throwing out predictable movements.

"You want to make yourself stand out," she said.

For the hip-hop number, the team borrowed one of the choreographers from the school's coed cheerleading state champions.

Garrett said she hopes the coed cheerleaders recent success rubs off on her squad.

"Knowing that they've won state so many times kind of pushes us to compete at that level," she said.

Taylor Joyce, 17, captain of St. Charles East High School's varsity pom squad, said schools seem to be investing a lot more resources into dance programs. She added, the critique teams receive from TDI competition judges "is a lot more professional."

"It's the last critique we can get on our product before the state competition," she said.

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