Mitchell cheer, dance teams working to improve after first meet

The Mitchell High School dance team put on a performance in front of a group of judges for its first time ever Saturday.

The MHS dance team, which is in its first year of competition, finished in eighth place with 161 points out of nine teams in the hip-hop category in a meet in Yankton on Saturday. The MHS cheer team, which is in its second year of competition, finished in second place in the stunting/non-tumbling division with 113 points. There were three teams in the cheer stunting/non-tumbling competition, and Aberdeen won the competition with 129 points.

The eighth-place finish was about where Mitchell cheer and dance coach Angie Sivertson thought the dance team would finish. Mitchell finished nine points out of seventh place.

“That’s what I expected,” she said. “I expected them to be closer to last and for them to be a little nervous and not perform quite as well as they do in practice because it was their first time competing. They did well and they are all excited and eager to try new things with more difficult skills in practice.”

Just like any competition, the dance team received suggestions from the judges about what it could do to improve on its performance.

“They suggested that we work on our spacing in our formations, the timing of our movements during the dance and they suggested that we add some things like handstands,” Sivertson said. “We will try and add those suggestions to the routine. With the improvements that they will make this week, I expect the team will finish closer to the middle of the pack.”

Both teams compete at 11 a.m. Saturday in Brookings.

Sivertson said the competition in the stunting/non-tumbling division will be tough all year.

“Yankton is a very good school and will be difficult to compete with,” she said. “Aberdeen has some younger girls that are doing well and have routines that are quite difficult.”

But Sivertson knows where it can pick up points in order to compete with those two schools.

“The team had some safety deductions that pertained to stunting,” Sivertson said. “We have made those changes, so they will be able to earn the points back this weekend.

“The girls are eager to come to practice and improving all of the skills that the judges gave them comments on and are excited to compete this weekend.”

Tags: sports, updates, kernels, cheer, dance