The dance teams from Stroud and Chandler Highs both competed at the OSDTDA State Championship this weekend in Tulsa, and both walked away state champs.
Stroud High School Pom brought home state championships in 1A/2A hip-hop and jazz, while placing second in pom, according to Coach Megan Jones.
“I am so, so proud of them. This is my first year with them. So I started over the summer and they have met and exceeded every bar that I have set,” Jones said. “I gave them some really difficult choreography and their state performances were, without a doubt, the best they had performed them.”
Jones added that they did a fantastic job in funneling all their emotions into their performances and it was really great. She said she has several girls on the team who started dancing in middle school and don’t have any studio training, but they worked hard to learn the technique and really rose to the occasion.
Chandler High School won the state championship in 3A jazz for the third year in a row and placed fourth overall, according to Coach Holly Hilgenfeld. The team also got runner-up in hip-hop and the junior high team placed first in eighth-grade mix.
“That was the biggest excitement… (winning fourth overall in jazz) they were pretty pumped that we were with 6A schools. It was us and 6A schools in the top five,” Hilgenfeld said The CHS alum is also a former pom squad member and said this weekend was special as she got to experience it with her two daughters on the team.
“It was really neat to see them. You know what I mean? Like, get that experience and watch how they all felt. But the reactions were priceless on all the girls. But it was amazing. Very, very special,” she said.
She added that this is Chandler’s 27th state title, with many more runner-ups in there. Hilgenfeld also attributed their wins to the work of choreographer Nancy Hedge.