On Friday afternoon, the St. Joseph-Ogden dance team thought its season was finished.
Not because of how they performed. But because of bad weather.
By Saturday night, those feelings had completely changed. Because the Spartans had advanced to state.
SJO traveled to Mascoutah on Saturday to compete in an Illinois
High School Association sectional meet more than three hours south of
St. Joseph. It was a trip that didn’t seem likely to happen the day
before.
With the potential for inclement weather predicted throughout
much of the state this past weekend, the IHSA refused to cancel the
sectional or postpone the competition to a future date, leaving the
decision up to the respective schools about whether they would go and
compete or not.
Initially, SJO decided against traveling 185 miles south to Mascoutah, a town located 28 miles southeast of St. Louis.
“We realize parents are driving the girls down to Mascoutah, but
this is still a school event and the school district’s responsibility,”
SJO Superintendent Brian Brooks said on Friday afternoon in announcing
the decision to not make the trip. “Student and staff safety must always
come first when making decisions for school events. It is impossible to
have zero risk in any aspect of life, but it is our responsibility to
lower the risk as much as possible for our students and staff with the
information we have in situations involving the school district.”
Brooks didn’t agree with the IHSA’s decision to not postpone the
competition until Monday. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on Monday, and
schools have the day off from classes because of the national holiday.
“As I told the IHSA Executive Director over the phone, the
decision to have these events under a winter storm warning is
unacceptable and irresponsible in my opinion,” Brooks said. “We should
never put athletics or activities ahead of student safety. The bottom
line comes down to this. No one at the IHSA had a plan B ironed out and
in place in case this situation came up, which I told the IHSA is not
only hard to fathom when this particular event is in the middle of the
winter, but also unacceptable.”
SJO athletic director Justin Franzen informed SJO dance coach
Emily Williams on Friday afternoon that the team would not be traveling
to Mascoutah.
Williams and the members of the team then held a meeting with
the SJO administration and parents to explain the decision about missing
the sectional competition.
“To say that our girls are devastated is putting it lightly,”
Williams said on Friday evening. “They understand that they cannot do
anything about the weather and that our administration did everything
they possibly could to make this work for everyone. The girls are sad
because they aren’t getting a fair chance to attend their IHSA sectional
and possibly advance to state.”
Jolene Duckett, the mother to SJO dance team member Kylie Duckett, said emotions were high on Friday afternoon.
“The hardest part for me was seeing the entire team cry during
the meeting after school,” she said. “My daughter is sad for herself,
but she is more sad for the five seniors who won’t get this chance
again. They are a team and stick together, so they have comforted each
other and spent Friday evening together as a team like they would have
in Mascoutah. Dance as a sport has a hard time getting respect, and no
one really knows how hard these girls work. They always look to making
it to IHSA state as a way of getting that respect.”
By Saturday morning, though, those feelings of despair and
frustration changed to one of hope and elation for those surrounding the
SJO dance team.
Why?
Because they were on their way to Mascoutah.
With less snow accumulation than was originally predicted to
fall from Friday night into Saturday morning, along with reports of
mostly rain on the way to Mascoutah, the SJO administration reversed its
initial decision.
“We told them we would re-evaluate, and we did,”
Brooks said on Saturday morning. “The IHSA agreed to push back their
performance time, so we made the decision to go.”
SJO senior dance team member Kalli Ingram, like most of her
teammates, went through a whirlwind of emotions from Friday afternoon
into Saturday morning.
“After being told no, only to wake up to a phone call (saying we
were going), it was reassuring to know that we weren’t upset over
nothing,” Ingram said. “The trip down wasn’t bad actually. The only snow
we encountered was around Champaign.”
SJO senior dance team member Haley Griebat said it didn’t feel
real hearing the news on Friday. Much like how it didn’t seem likely
that she and other team members were getting their hair and makeup ready
in the car on the drive down to Mascoutah.
“Our team pulled together quick when we received the message
that we were going to be able to go,” she said. “Performing at
sectionals is what we look forward to all year long. Our goal as a team
is to make it to IHSA state, so getting the opportunity to make that
happen was everything we wanted.”
The SJO dance team traveling party
arrived safely in Mascoutah ahead of their early afternoon performance
time. And when it was time for the Spartans to compete, they did. With a
flourish.
SJO compiled a score of 85.13, good enough for fifth place at
the 13-school sectional meet and good enough to earn a spot in the state
competition since the top six schools advanced to state.
“After all of our hard work and stress this week,” SJO senior
dance team member Rachel Gherna said, “it was an amazing feeling to have
qualified.”
Villa Grove won the sectional meet with a score of 88.67, while Bethalto Civic Memorial (87.60), Unity (86.57), Effingham St. Anthony (85.67) and Clinton (85.10) all joined SJO in qualifying for state out of the Mascoutah Sectional.
And once SJO concluded its stay in Mascoutah with a
state-qualifying performance, the entire traveling party arrived back to
St. Joseph safely by Saturday night.
The Spartans won’t have to wait long to perform again. The state
meet is on Friday and Saturday at Grossinger Motors Arena in
Bloomington. Even if the weather is less than ideal this weekend — no
snow is in the forecast at the moment for Friday and Saturday — the
events and circumstances surrounding this past weekend is one those
associated with the SJO dance team won’t soon forget. For a multitude of
reasons.
“Everything happened so fast, but when we all got out there on
the floor to dance, I finally realized what was happening,” Gherna said.
“All of those emotions hit me at once. To be honest, I almost started
crying before the music was turned on. I’m so proud of my team because
we have worked so hard and been through so much. I feel like we
definitely deserved to dance and qualify.”
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