Sports
Photo Gallery: Eastview Kicks to Another State Dance Crown
Few expected the Lightning to strike again, but the team danced its way to another Class AAA state high kick championship on Saturday.
Seeing Eastview's dance team win high-kick crowns at state isn't unusual.
This win, however, was a bit unexpected, as nearly two-thirds of Eastview's dancers were new to the team this year.
Eastview won its fifth Class AAA high-kick state championship in eight years on Saturday at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
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“I would say this is my proudest moment as a coach,” said nine-year Eastview head coach Jenny Raiche, “to bring a team of 30 girls out on the floor and 18 of them have never danced out on the state floor before.
The Lightning shared their coach's feeling about how much they've improved since the start of this season.
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“I’m just so happy about how far our team has come this year,” said Elise Kissell, one of four Eastview captains. “A year ago I would have never pictured this happening.”
“I think we wanted it the most and came together as a team and had the performance of our lives,” Kissell added.
“We loved each other so much and we left everything on the floor and we were divas in Vegas,” added Kate Harp.
The Lightning won state crowns in high kick in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009, and a jazz title in 2000.
Saturday the Eastview girls team thrilled the crowd as they danced to "Viva Las Vegas," and impressed the judges, with top marks in all of the judging categories—kicks, execution, choreography, difficulty and routine effectiveness.
“From the very beginning to the very end of the dance I feel like they had it in their hearts, they had it in their eyes, they had it in every movement in their body that they wanted to nail the routine,” said Raiche. “They wanted to come out on top and that showed all the way through.”
Eden Prairie was second in the Class AAA high kick competition and Apple Valley third. Twelve Class AAA teams qualified for the state tournament and six advanced into Saturday night's finals. Also making the finals beside the three placewinners were Chaska, Brainerd and Faribault. Defending champion Maple Grove made it to state, but didn't advance into the finals.
Eastview captains Katie Matthews and Jillian Kurtz were named to the Class AAA all-tournament team.
Editor's note: This story has been revised. An earlier version stated incorrectly one of the years Eastview won the state high-kick championship. It won in 2007, not 2008.
