Starting in August the poms squad devoted hard work and time in preparation for their most important routine of the season performed at all three of their competitions.
On Feb. 1 they put all of their practice to the test at their final and most important competition, counties. While they didn’t place as high as they had hoped, ending their season in seventh place out of eight total teams, they still had a fun season of invitational competitions, football games, basketball games and other experiences.
The county competition is exceptionally challenging because almost every Montgomery County school performs. It is also the last time seniors dance representing their high school. This year the girls competed in division 2 against Northwest, BCC, Rockville, Wheaton, Gaithersburg, Walter Johnson, and Richard Montgomery. “Being a part of poms has been such a great experience. It made counties an emotional day because it was my last performance ever with my best friends,” senior Parmida Khajoee said.
Head coach Lindsay Roberts looked forward to their performance at counties. “The team performed really well and the routine was very clean and exciting to watch. I would have liked to place higher but poms can be subjective and the division is very competitive,” Roberts said.
Leading up to counties were two invitational competitions that took place on Jan. 11 and Jan. 18. They placed sixth out of eight total teams at their first invitational competition. After fixing their mistakes and bettering the routine as best they could, they improved and placed third out of six total teams at their next competition. “We improved so much in the short time between the invitationals because of how hard we worked at every practice. We knew what we needed to fix and got it done just in time. Our performance at our second invitational was the best we have performed all season and it was so rewarding to see such an improvement,” sophomore Jenna Siman said.
Juniors Jillian Pohoryles and Ryan Weitz and seniors Brooke Simon and Sami Haendler played their part as captains to lead the team by choreographing and teaching the complex six-minute routine. The captains also create the music track and incorporate what they think will fit best. “This was my first year being captain and getting to help choreograph the routines has been really rewarding. I am really proud of everyone on the team and how hard they all worked. It was also great to still have fun no matter how much work I was doing,” Pohoryles said.
The poms team also had the unique opportunity to perform their competition routine at the University of Maryland basketball game on Jan. 4. This was a great way to prepare for the upcoming season and perform in front of a new and bigger audience. This performance represented the community in a positive way while also helping the team itself.
