South Spirettes finish successful season

By Megan Shafer
Special to the Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE April 29, 2008 08:55 pm

— Though there were some problems along the way, the Spirettes have finished yet another successful competition season.
On Feb. 23, South was scheduled to host the Indiana High School Dance Team Association Southern Regional, where 30 other high school and junior high school dance teams participate for a chance to compete at the state level.
Due to weather problems, however, the competition was canceled. The cancellation came as a disappointment to the entire team. “I was pretty upset because it is the performance we’ve been working towards since tryouts last spring,” stated freshman Swapna Namburi. Not only that, she continued on to say, the $6,000 they were expecting to make from the competition would have helped pay for things such as bus fees that the team has to pay. Instead they lost nearly $2,000.
Also as a result, none of the 30 teams were eliminated and they all advanced to the state competition on March 1. The girls competed in the jazz, pom, and hip hop categories at state. They didn’t place as well as anticipated and the cancellation of the Regional competition may have been a factor, some of the dancers said.
The Spirettes are led by senior captain Paige Richards, junior co-captain Kylie Clinkenbeard, and sophomore co-captain Kayla Mann. The other sophomore team members are Brianna Gemmecke, Kelsey Gottardi, Nicole Hawkins, Kara Nicholson, Jenna Schulz, and Kristi Wilkinson. The freshman team members are Brittany Brown, Brianna Cogar, Ciara Hall, Cortni Haskell, Swapna Namburi, Kristen Pauwee, Beth Shafer, Hannah Shepherd and Disney Smith.
After the state competition, the solo and ensemble groups competed on March 8. Paige Richards and Kara Nicholson competed in solo performances. Kylee Clinkenbeard, Kayla Mann and Kristi Wilkinson made up one of the ensemble groups and the other was composed of Nicole Hawkins, Kelsey Gottardi and Jenna Schulz.
Congratulation on your successes this season and good luck next year, girls!