Taylor Kent, co-captain of Huntley High School varsity poms, stood with her fellow senior dancers in a room listening to judges, whom she had just performed for, as they gave her and her team positive feedback and helpful tips. One by one, each judge revealed that these Red Raiders were number one on their score sheets. That day,Kent was very confident in her team’s hip hop performance and she could tell by the judges encouraging faces that they had blown them away.

Kent and her fellow seniors walked back out onto the mats that their team, in tears and jumping up and down, overwhelmed them with hugs and screamed, “We made it to State!”

“I kind of knew,” said Chrissy Amling, varsity coach. “It really was their best performance.”

Their hip hop routine scored 90.3 out of 100 and received first place in the competition on Sunday, Feb. 5 at Stevenson High School, qualifying that routine for the state competition which will take place in early March in Peoria.

Not only did they secure their bid to state, they also beat three other highly intimidating schools who had been winning all season.

“Our goal is to be in the top three at state,” said Amling. “But of course, if we win, that would be even better.”

This will be the third consecutive year that Huntley’s varsity poms have made it to state, and they could not be more thrilled. While they are confident in their routine, they are always trying to improve.

Within the next few weeks, they hope to clean and perfect their hip hop routine. In order to qualify their poms routine for state, they hope to receive a score of over 91 or win first place at their next competition on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Jacobs High School.

“Our hip hop is definitely ready,” said Kent. “We have worked on it so much, but we probably have to work on the skills in our poms routine.”

The team is currently working hard to improve and dance as one, while remembering their 2012 motto: “New year. New team. Same dream.”