Dance and Cheer as National Champions
March 25, 2015
For the fifth year in a row, diamond Bar High School’s All Male won the national dance competition held last weekend in Anaheim.
The Varsity Song girls also were selected as national champions placing first for the second year in a row in their category.
The boys placed first in exhibition after competing in the Small All Male category against 19 other teams, while Dance overall finished third in small hip hop and sixth in small dance.
Varsity Cheer placed second at the competition in the novice division, losing to Clovis West High School, a group dropped from the intermediate division, one level above novice. Although Cheer swept Clovis West during the final round, thirty percent of the preliminary score was carried over, resulting in the DBHS team taking second place.
“I know the blood, sweat, and tears that my girls put in to [the] competition and their routines,” Song and Cheer coach Whitney Prenger said. “I think that [the competitors] brought a level of competition but ultimately, I know that Diamond Bar won in both divisions.”
Before the Song and Cheer teams entered the final competition, Nationals, they had to pass the preliminary round. However, All Male did not have to compete in a preliminary round because the dancers compete in an open division.
“It’s a division that started small but continues to grow larger every year and produce tougher competition. They show up at the competition simply to watch these boys do what they do,” Prenger, who works with dance coach Kari Simonson to coordinate all of the dance and cheer teams, explained.
Song competed against many teams that had also attended their regional events and were neck-to-neck on many scores. Due to their constant practices, the girls ended up defeating the other teams and claimed first place.
Each competition consisted of different divisions and was broken up by skill level or team size. Each division also had its respective criteria. For example, All Male was judged based on its choreography, execution, and performance. Song competed in the advanced division and performed more challenging choreography and dance moves. The cheer team competed at the novice level, which included acts like stunting skills, tumbling skills, choreography, and execution.
“We’re happy to be here. We’re happy with the work we’ve done.” Prenger said. “No matter how we placed, we’ve succeeded all our goals and met all our challenges. Just the feeling of success and the fact that hard work really does pay off was exciting.”
