Lincoln-Way West Varsity Dance Finishes 4th At State Finals

NEW LENOX, IL — After a challenging and shortened season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Lincoln-Way West Varsity Competitive Dance team earned a fourth place finish at the IHSA Class 2A state finals.

The team earned a score of 90.00 in the Class 2A state finals, in which Geneva took first place with a score of 94.32.

The junior varsity dance team also won first place in its conference this season.

"This was anything but an ordinary season," Head Coach Victoria DiNaso told Patch.

DiNaso said the team was originally given a start date of Nov. 16, but the following day, all sports were put on pause until further notice due to the amount of coronavirus cases in the state.

"At that point, varsity only had costumes, music, and about twenty seconds choreographed while junior varsity only had costumes," DiNaso said.

In late January, the state moved to Tier 1 mitigations, and DiNaso said the team was notified to begin immediately.

"We had no idea when competitions would begin or when the season would end," DiNaso said, and she was shocked when they were told there was only 28 days until conference competition, 31 days to sectional competition and 38 days until state competition.

"Suddenly, what we typically get months to perfect needed to be done in 4 weeks," DiNaso said.

The entire season was held virtually, and teams uploaded videos of performances for judges to evaluate.

DiNaso said the dancers on both varsity and junior varsity worked "incredibly hard" to learn their dances.

"Junior varsity learned their dance from start to finish in less than three weeks and won first place in the SWSC Conference Red Division,"DiNaso said. "We are incredibly proud of this team and all of their hard work."

The varsity team finished learning their dance two weeks before submitting the video for state finals, DiNaso said.

"To win first place at their sectional and fourth place in the 2A division at State was an incredible way to end the season. It was shocking and incredibly exciting to be recognized as a top team, especially after following the IHSA 'pause' rules" DiNaso said. "If I were to summarize this year's varsity dance team, the No. 1 word that comes to mind is resilience. They took all obstacles that we faced and pushed each other to be better. This team never let the circumstances affect their attitudes, and in the end we were able to accomplish so much!"

The varsity team roster includes: Amanda Barta, Mya Bills, Ryan Borrelli, Gianna D'Angelo, Olivia Feehan, Ava Ferree, Amanda Garbaciak, Grace Grude, Hanna Haggard, Paige Lenczewski, Mary Ktae Loichinger, Tara Michalak, Lauren Montgomery, Katie Nash, Anwyn Perr, Emma Ryan, Ellie Slowiak, Alyssa Stasiak, Leah Turay, Carlee White, Abby Wintercorn, and Karmyn Zeimer.

The junior varsity roster includes: Jalisa Bartlett, Candise Battin, Cassie Battin, Sadie Chapel, Deven Darlinger, Ava Dolezal, Elise Dust, Maddy Eckert, Piper Eggener, Lily Grude, Nina Hammad, Liv Hollendoner, Lilly Kalis, Emma Lash, Kiera Loranger, Julia Meadows, Maddie Medina, Chloe Mroz, Madalyn Rickey, Chloe Sall, Brianne Trevillian, and Leah Young.

"The 44 girls that make up the varsity and junior varsity dance team did an incredible job and it is a pleasure to have been able to coach these dancers," DiNaso said.

DiNaso coaches both teams, and is assisted by junior varsity coach Ashley Turek and choreographer Justine Slattery.