The varsity Poms competitive dance team has been building on their past successes this season, increasing their scores from each competition to the next, Alexis Carmody ‘22 said. 

“We have a harder dance [this year], so it’s been harder to master,” Charlotte Remijas ’22 said. “But, we’ve gotten the highest scores we’ve ever gotten with it.”

In the Maine East Invitational on Jan. 17, Poms secured a first place win, with a score of 90.3 out of 100, the highest score in LT Poms history. Head coach Brittany Smith attributes the team’s success to their hard work in the weeks leading up to the competition. 

“I am always proud of the team whenever they come off the competition floor and they feel good about it, but achieving the success of Conference Champs is undeniably an amazing feeling,” Smith said. 

Unlike most sports, Poms is nearly year-round, beginning their season with try-outs in the spring, practicing through the summer, sideline cheering for football, and then ending their season with competitions and basketball cheering, Smith said. 

With all the time they spend together, the team has had time to bond and create inside jokes and memories, like a stuffed lion mascot that wears a shirt to match with the team, Remijas said.

“Our team is really close this year, which is different than it has been in years past, because there [was] kind of a divide between upperclassmen and underclassmen,” Remijas said. “But, we’ve tried really hard to avoid that [this season].”

This year, nearly half of the varsity team is composed of underclassmen, which Smith says is beneficial as both the underclassmen and upperclassmen can learn from one another, pushing each other to work hard. 

“They’re so talented, we’ve had a lot of super skilled and impressive underclassmen join,” Carmody said. “And it was really surprising, because last year was hard for us to meet in-person with Zoom and everything, but this year we’ve all clicked and really come together.”

A common goal throughout the team was to make it to the second day of state, which has never been achieved in Poms history, Smith said. Prior to the state finals on Jan. 28-29, Carmody was hopeful that this would be the year. 

“As a team, we’re really pushing to make it to state day two this year,” Carmody said. “In the past three years we’ve never made it to day two, we’ve just qualified for day one. And this year, we have a really good feeling that we can make it, so that’s our huge goal of the season.”

The team unfortunately did not make it to the second day of state, although they were proud of their performance and the work they had put in throughout the season, team member Morgan Fry ‘22 said. 

Transitioning to a more normal season coming off of COVID-19 has been a big adjustment, Smith said. With virtual competitions and reduced cheering from fans last year, upperclassmen have needed to step up to help out their younger teammates. 

“I think the team chemistry is very strong this year,” Smith said. “Everyone on the team has the same end goals and everyone works hard to achieve them, there are no weak links.”