Sports
Braintree High Varsity Dance Captures 2013 Bay State Conference Title
The varsity squad also captured the State title in December 2012.
The Braintree High varsity dance team won first place at the Bay State Conference Winter Cheer and Dance Championship at Braintree High on February 13th. BHS beat six other high school dance teams, eliciting high marks from the judges and bringing an enthusiastic audience to its feet. Senior Ashley
Boyle was named the 2013 All Star and senior Rose Thackeray was awarded honorable mention.
The team of 24 dancers led by captains Ashley Boyle, Rae Lynch, Alison Page and Rose Thackeray, includes seniors Emily Helbig, Amanda McCormack and Erin Moriarty; juniors Meg McCarthy, Nicole Coloma, Alex Dean, Gabbi Fiedor and Claudia McHugh; sophomores Emily DiGiusto, Jordan Nashawaty, Danielle Tressler , Jackie Swan and Shae Vartanian; and freshmen Emma DiBona, Julia Mahoney, Kelly Martin, Haley Norton, Kezia Odom, Molly O’Toole and Hannah Stewart.
Coach Jamie Campbell expressed pride and enthusiasm for her team’s winning performance. “They really are in a league of their own,” she said of the Wamps who beat the second place Needham team and third place finisher, Newton North, by a wide margin. Campbell and assistant coach Lindsay Coleman are both former BHS varsity dancers.
BHS Captain Ashley Boyle said the team’s winning routine was choreographed to a crowd-pleasing country soundtrack. “It was one of the fastest paced and most challenging dances we’ve ever done with two sets of team fouettes and double turns.”
Boyle said the team was able to sustain high energy throughout the dance thanks to cheering Braintree fans. “It really helped having our friends and family there,” she said. Boyle said she was proud of her teammates. “We lost several days of practice because of the blizzard but we worked hard and pulled it off.”
Coach Campbell also gave kudos to BHS’s junior varsity dance team whose February 10 th competition at Emmanuel College was cancelled due to the blizzard. The team exhibited at the Bay State Conference competition along with Weymouth’s JV dance squad. “Braintree’s JV girls looked better than ever and I
am so excited that they got to take to the floor and show everyone what they can do,” she said. The JV squad is coached by Patty Hale and Emily Rodd.
Varsity dance’s winter Bay State Conference win continues a successful dance season for the BHS dance program. The varsity squad also captured the State title in December 2012.
Next up for the hard-to-beat dance program is the Winter State Cheer and Dance Competition to be held at Braintree High School, March 2 at 10 a.m. followed by the New England Championship March 9th also at Braintree High.
