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DENVER – The Class 5A poms competition once again came down to a battle between Rock Canyon and defending champion Cherry Creek, two teams that have now combined to win the last six titles in the division and eight of the last nine.
On Saturday night at the Denver Coliseum, Rock Canyon emerged atop the recent years rivalry and the field. The Jaguars scored an 88.95 in the finals to claim their third title in the last four years and the sixth poms title in their program’s history.
And the Jaguars did it with an exceedingly young group to boot.
“We have mostly a team of rookies,” Jaguars head coach Christina Leone said. “We graduated 12 dancers last year, so today’s team only had three dancers that had ever been on this floor before. That experience, the moment, the pressure, you can’t replicate that in practice. The fact that they lived up to the pressure is just a testament to them.
“They’re incredible kids.”
Cherry Creek finished runner-up with a finals score of 88.125. The Bruins have nine poms titles in their program’s history, which alone is enough to place them in sixth place on the all-time list of most spirit titles in all disciplines combined.
Ralston Valley placed third with a score of 86.625, Legend was fourth with a score of 85.275, Valor Christian scored an 84.675 to place fifth and Ponderosa was sixth at 84.3.
In Class 4A, Roosevelt scored a 91.1 in the finals to claim its third straight poms title.
“This was a rollercoaster,” Roosevelt head coach Brittany Reddy said. “We worked hard, kept our focus on us, and we pushed. We say every year is a new year with new obstacles, and so we just really went for it. We didn’t let anything hold us back.”
Wheat Ridge finished runner-up with a score of 90.175. Holy Family (90.15) was third, Standley Lake (90.15) was fourth and Pueblo County (87.625) was fifth.
In Class 3A, a familiar pattern continued with Aspen and University having traded the last six state titles, dating back to 2018. This year, Aspen reclaimed the first-place trophy with a score 79.225 in the finals to edge runner-up University’s finals score of 77.665.
“This is a special moment for this team because we have seven seniors and they have pulled this team together and helped encourage leadership amongst all grades to really pull through and make this win happen,” Aspen head coach Gioia Bartolo said. “They did incredible. They really stepped it up in finals. Our choreographer Hailey Willis with Tribe 99 is the absolute best and we couldn’t have done it without her.”
In Class 2A, SkyView Academy defended its 2022 title with a winning finals score of 75.1.
“Going into this morning, we really didn’t know how this day was going to go,” Grace Russo said. “The team just really fought for it and pushed through and ended up with another win. Getting our second state championship back-to-back is really special.”
Sanford finished runner-up in 2A with a score of 70.7.