Spirit Dance: Preseason Rankings Released

AURORA – To celebrate the start of the fall sports and activities season, the Colorado High School Activities Association is publishing its preseason poll ranking the top spirit dance programs you should keep an eye on this upcoming season. Below are the 10 spirit dance programs you should keep an eye on in both the 5A and 4A classifications.

Dance in spriit is made up of the hip hop, jazz, poms and gameday dance disciplines. Gameday dance is a new discipline that has been added this season.

Please know that CHSAA will ONLY be doing a preseason coaches poll and all fall sports and activities will be included. Throughout the season, CHSAA will publicize the Seedings Index as a weekly ranking for the sports that have a Seedings Index (field hockey, flag football, football, boys soccer, softball and girls volleyball). These rankings will go live once there are enough games played to populate a ranking (approx. week 3 or 4 for most sports).

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Also receiving votes: Valor Christian, Fossil Ridge, Chaparral, Thunderridge, Northfield, Grandview, Legacy, Regis Jesuit, Bear Creek, Horizon, Arvada West, Boulder, Erie, Brighton, Fruita Monument, Castle View, Douglas County, Monarch, Centaurus.

Claiming the top spot as the No. 1 5A spirit dance program to watch this season is Cherry Creek. Cherry Creek finished as the runner up to Rock Canyon, the No. 2 5A spirit dance program to watch this season, at last year’s 5A poms state championships, with Rock Canyon winning the state title by just 0.825 points. Coming in at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, are Cherokee Trail and Mountain Vista — last season’s top-two jazz programs. Mountain Vista ultimately won the state title by 0.975 points. Eaglecrest, last year’s hip-hop state champion, rounds out the top five 5A programs to watch. Ralston Valley and Legend, the No. 6 and No. 7 5A spirit dance programs to watch this season, respectively, finished just 1.5 points and 2.85 points behind Cherry Creek in last year’s 5A pom finals. Broomfield is tied with Legend at No. 7, and finished third at last year’s hip-hop state championship finals. The second-place team from last year’s hip-hop state championships, Arapahoe, earned the No. 9 spot on the list. Ponderosa claimed the final spot among the top-10 5A spirit dance programs to watch, after reaching the 5A poms finals last season and finishing sixth.

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Also receiving votes: Green Mountain, Falcon, Timnath, Dakota Ridge, Northridge, Windsor, Eagle Valley.

Your defending 4A poms state champions, Roosevelt, has been voted the No. 1 4A spirit dance program to watch in the state this upcoming season. The rest of the top four aligns almost perfectly with last year’s 4A poms results. 2023 4A poms runner-up Wheat Ridge earned the No. 2 spot, while Standley Lake and Holy Family flipped spots, after Holy Family finished third at last year’s 4A poms finals and Standley Lake finished fourth. Evergreen, the No. 5 4A program to watch, narrowly missed out on last year’s 4A poms finals, as it finished sixth in the 4A poms finals. Meanwhile, the last remaining member of last year’s 4A poms finals, Pueblo County, earns the No. 6 spot on the list of programs to watch this season. The No. 7 spirit dance program to watch this season, Mullen, is expected to make waves after finishing 17th in the 4A poms semifinals last year. Lewis-Palmer climbs into the top-10 at No. 8, after finishing just outside the top-10 at last season’s 4A poms finals. Finally, Littleton and Silver Creek are tied at No. 9 to round out the list. Littleton finished 15th in last year’s 4A poms semifinals, while Silver Creek finished 18th in the hip-hop semifinals.