List of state qualifiers continues to grow
By Bryan Bonato Special to The News-Sun January 23, 2012 2:54PM
Grayslake, 01/22/12 -- The Carmel Dance team performs in the first round Sunday morning of the TDI Poms/Dance tournament at Grayslake Central. | Eric Davis ~ For Sun-Times Media
STATE QUALIFIERS
GRAYSLAKE CENTRAL TOURNAMENT Grayslake North
Hip-Hop Division (2A)
Deerfield
Poms Division (3A)
Open Dance Division (3A)
Carmel
Open Poms Division (3A)
Kick Division (3A)
Grayslake Central
Open Poms Division (2A)
Article Extras
Updated: January 24, 2012 2:27AM
Let’s get the one-liner out of the way right away.
Carmel’s poms/dance team kicked better on Sunday than Billy Cundiff of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
And because it did, Carmel’s season will continue, while Cundiff’s quack of a duck-hook on a chip-shot field-goal attempt knocked his club out of the NFL playoffs.
Carmel’s successes — earning scores high enough to qualify their Kick Division and Open Poms Division routines for the TDI-sanctioned state tournament — was one of the big stories of the day at the Grayslake Central Invitational.
It was big — huge — for the Corsairs because it’s the first time in four years the squad will be playing in Peoria — site of the state tourney in March.
“We’re so excited,” said Carmel coach Dina Pryhocki. “The girls had great energy. They were clean, they were together, and they sold it. They definitely sold it today. I’m so proud of them.”
Another big story from the meet was Grayslake North winning the Technical Excellence Award, which isn’t unlike being voted “Best of Show” by the judges.
The Knights posted state-qualifying scores in the Poms Division and Hip-Hop Division, but they’d done that earlier in the season. The Technical Award made the day extra special.
“That’s a first for our program. We’ve never received one of those before, so that’s very cool. Those are hard to come by,” said Grayslake North coach Sarah Georgia.
Deerfield also had a big day, and the Warrior girls let everyone know how excited they were with a loud cheer when it was announced their Poms and Open Dance routines earned them trips downstate.
“We’ve made a lot of changes since our last competition at Wheaton-Warrenville and everything really paid off today. The girls are really excited,” said Deerfield coach Joey Berman.
Grayslake Central was the outstanding host for the event and the Rams also posted a state-qualifying score in the Open Poms Division.
“We’re very excited about qualifying,” said Rams coach Jen Pope. “We were much much better today than we have been. I thought today we really nailed it.”
Next Sunday, the venue for TDI action will be Lake Zurich.
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