The Northern Lake County Conference is a competitive conference in Ill., with top teams in each sport. The Antioch Community High School dance team has gone to state six times, including their 13th-place finish last season. Conference took place at Wacounda on Jan. 13 and was the dance team’s proving performance.
When it comes to competing for the NLCC title for dance, it could best be named as anyone’s game. ACHS, Grant and Wauconda are all front-runners for the 2022-2023 NLCC champion title.
At the D117 competition, the ACHS dance team took third place behind both Grant and Wauconda. The team worked hard all week in order to possibly be the NLCC champions.
The ACHS dance team gave a fierce performance, improving their score from the last competition. Even though the dance team has had six performances this season, this performance was a special one due to their validating moment.
“Conference was the best performance the team has done this year,” head coach Sarah Owens said. “I was beyond excited for them.”
Though the ACHS dance team felt their performance was exceptional, they still placed behind Grant. The team outscored Wauconda placing second in the conference, which was their goal all along.
“The biggest goal was to improve our score,” junior Brooke Devience said. “We improved our score and beat Wauconda, one of our biggest competitors.”
Along with the second-place finish, senior Beth Kamman was awarded the NLCC sportsmanship award; the award is given to one athlete on each team in the conference who best displays sportsmanship in and outside the sport.
Now the ACHS dance team gears into sectionals, which decides the rest of their season, whether it be over or they make it to state. The team is incorporating as many practices as possible so they can increase their number of run-throughs.
“We need to place in the top six,” Owens said. “The more [the team] does it, the better they’ll feel with themselves.”
Even though they can practice many times, the mental side of dance is more powerful than skill. Keeping a team focused and straying from fear may be difficult, but the ACHS dance team is used to this pressure since they were in this same position last year.
“There’s a lot more at stake,” senior Emma Patel said. “You need to stay calm and not stress out, but also realize this defines our season.”
With sectionals on the high rise, the team must trust in one another and leave it all on the dance floor to conquer the rest of their season.
