The Greeley West dance and cheerleading teams competed in the 5A State Championships this past weekend at the Denver Coliseum. The Poms competed against 17 teams in the all-classification hip-hop division while the cheer team competed against 38 teams in the 5A co-ed division.

The Greeley West Dance team finished third in the state after a stellar performance in the preliminary round which earned them a spot in the finals where only four teams were chosen. It was a great way to pick up where they left off after taking first in league.

West finished just one point behind the state-runner up Eaglecrest after their finals performance. It was a great way to get the program back on the map since not qualifying for the finals since 2012. The team is inexperienced despite having two seniors and six juniors.

Sophomore Jacelyn Hays is one of the leaders on the team and was on the team last year as well. She said, “We exceeded a lot of expectations and we hope to take this confidence into Nationals, but we know we will have a target on our backs now. We had a lot of new girls who had never competed before so we had to keep their nerves from getting to them. It’s a big step for us and we are hoping for bigger things that have yet to come.”

The Dance team will now prepare for Nationals in Orlando, Florida in February.

The cheerleaders competed Friday night and finished in 14^th place out of the 38 teams.