MORRIS – It sounded like a nice little vacation for the Morris poms team, but it turned out to be more work than it expected.

The Redskins’ trip to the Universal Dance Association Nationals ended as a positive one, as they made the finals in both of the competitions they entered, taking 15th place in Medium Pom and 16th place in Medium Jazz. The week before, Morris had finished second in the state in the medium school competition while performing its jazz routine.

Members of the Morris pom squad are co-captains Molly Nystedt, Mackenzie Eber and Maddie Olson, along with Jacinda Smith, Jenika Smith, Chloee Hansen, Grace Larson, Anna Benson, Haley McDonald, Stephanie Kruse, Macy Rodgers, Mara Punke, Isabelle Hess, Bailey Severson and Emily Lindenborn.

“It was a very fun trip,” Morris coach Becky Bernardi said. “To make the finals in both of the competitions is still kind of hard to wrap my mind around. Our goal when we went down there was to make the semifinals. The level of competition down there is just unreal.”

Bernardi noted that since the Illinois state finals were the previous week, there were several other teams from Illinois at the national competition, including squads from Tinley Park Andrew, Geneva, Maine South, Lake Park and Lake Forest, all of which also made the finals.

“There were a lot of Illinois teams down there,” she said. “It was fun because we were able to support each other. When you are at state, you are in competition with them, but at nationals you kind of band together and try to represent the state. I think it says a lot about the level of competition in Illinois dance that so many teams were able to make the finals.”

The team arrived in Orlando on Feb. 9 and spent the day at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. They spent most of the day Saturday at the competition at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, then spent all of Sunday there, as well.

“We got to the complex at 8:30 in the morning on Sunday and, by the time the awards presentation was over, it ws 11:30 at night,” Bernardi said. “We didn’t get as much sightseeing in as we thought we would, but it was great to be a part of the competition.”

Team co-captains Mackenzie Eber and Maddie Olson agreed that Sunday was a long day.
The Redskins were impressed with the large crowd that had come to watch the competition.

“I was more excited than nervous,” Olson said. “I have never experienced performing in front of a crowd that big. We just went out there and did our best. We had never been to nationals before, so there was nothing to lose.”

To top things off, the shuttle that took the team to the airport arrived at the hotel at 4:30 a.m. Monday.

“It was a pretty quiet plane ride home,” Eber said. “Everyone was sleeping. We got maybe one or two hours of sleep before we had to get ready for the shuttle to come.”

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the team, and they were glad to take it.

“We decided to go to nationals this year because it did not conflict with our IHSA State Series,” Bernardi said. “Normally, it is the same weekend as our state competition, so we’ve been unable to attend. We have such talented, dedicated dancers and a wonderful group of parents, so we decided that since it didn’t conflict, this would be the year.

“Over the course of the competition, the girls danced three times on Saturday and three times on Sunday. This is not very common for a team who is attending for their first time. We have such great community support, and it was so fun to see all of the congratulations messages coming in as the weekend went on. These girls love to do what they do, and our program is successful because of all of our supportive family, friends, and fans.”

Bernardi also noted that the only other time MCHS has gone to nationals was in 2009, when they competed in the jazz and hip-hop categories.