The Emeralds competed in their first two competitions of the year: the KC Classic and Lee’s Summit North Regional contest.
In the the KC Classic at Liberty High School Dec. 9, the team earned second place in Precision Jazz, third place in Pom and second place in Game Day.
“KC Classic was a lot of fun,” sophomore Lyla Reeves said. “We love KC Classic. We go there every year, and our team always has a lot of fun competing and being with each other.”
Reeves was the only Staley sophomore to perform a solo, and she earned sixth place in her category.
“I did really good, and I think there’s still some things to touch up on, but I tried my best,” Reeves said.
Out of the other soloists, four of them placed in the category for Junior Solo. Blair McCammon placed fourth, Sarah Tarpley placed sixth, Marie Palmentere placed seventh and, Kenzie Cornett placed tenth.
“I felt so confident in my dance,” Tarpley said. “I was feeling the music, and whenever I finished my dance, so many of the girls were like, ‘Sarah, I didn’t know you could dance like that.’ I thought I danced the best I’d ever danced.”
These accomplishments didn’t happen overnight.
“There were a lot of hours of me practicing my solo and having determination to be the best I can be,” Tarpley said.
Tarpley was proud of the team’s performance.
“I feel like we did really good, especially in our jazz. We’d been working on it for so long, and we just came together as a team, and it paid off. Getting off the floor, we were all so happy and the energy was just great.”
In the Lee’s Summit North Regional contest, the team scored third in Precision Jazz, sixth in Pom and fifth in Game Day. All six dancers who competed solos medaled in their division.
