A year after placing third in state, the varsity dance team placed fifth in Class 2A at the IHSA State dance competition on Saturday, Jan. 28.

The Wildcats received a score of 91.46 in the final round of competition. The day before at U.S Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, the poms team scored a 90.72 in the preliminary rounds to qualify for the finals. They placed sixth out of the 12 qualifiers on Friday.

Then, on Saturday night, the Cats had their best performance of the past two weekends, scoring a 91.46 to place 5th in state.

“(The) experience was amazing because we are such a close team that works really well together and has so much fun,” said junior Caroline Schaffer, who had her first state experience this past weekend.

The team was one of the six state qualifiers after scoring an 89.70 in the Grayslake North Sectional on Friday, January 20th.

Once they settled into the pressure of competing at State, the Cats performed much better. “Going into the second day, we knew what we needed to fix and we had a better idea of what to expect going onto the floor,” said junior Hayley Holson.

In 2014-2015 the team placed second in state, making this the third straight year the Cats have placed top five in 2A.

The poms team’s competition season is over, but they will still be performing during halftime of the boys and girls varsity basketball games.