Recently, the St. Louis High School PomPon team placed fourth at state, which took place Feb. 13, at Eastern Michigan University, in Ypsilanti. 

However, the team suffered many injuries throughout the season and it affected the competition in many ways. From one girl getting her foot run over, to multiple girls injuring themselves in the hotel room the night before the girls still pushed through all the ups and downs of the season and put on a great performance! 

Coach Madi Shattuck expressed, “The girls worked together to overcome many challenges this year. One example was having to make large changes to the routine, and perfecting them in a three-day span, not only once but three or four times.” 

To the team, the best part of going to state was the chance at team bonding and just being all together. Many of the pommers this year were new so it took lots of work and dedication to make it this far, but the girls did not disappoint! Coach Shattuck couldn’t be more proud of them!

Coach Shattuck also expressed, “Of course the girls were nervous! Who wouldn’t be with hundreds of eyes all on you out on that floor? These girls showed confidence and attitude throughout their time on the floor, and I couldn’t be more proud!” For her and Coach Mckenna Muscott, the best part of state was just being able to watch the girl’s excitement leading up to their performance. 

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, last year the poms team was unable to compete, but that didn’t stop them from stealing the show and making it to state this time around! Additionally, they have many plans for the upcoming future of poms! One plan is that they obviously are hoping to recruit more team members and be able to spark the interest of the sport. Another big plan is to work with the Davenport University pom team which reached out to work with the girls for the upcoming year.  with a little bit of help and a lot of determination, they can get the state champion title back. 

Junior Kiersten Wenzlick, who has been in Poms since her freshman year, expressed, “State was pretty fun for the most part. I think the only part I didn’t enjoy was when both Izzy Burt and I found a way to rip our toenails off with the hotel door.”

Sophomore Mckenzie Smith, who has also been on the team since her freshman year expressed,  “States was super exciting for me being that we weren’t able to compete last year. Going to dinner with my team the day before was really fun. I was so excited while we were performing, and I felt that I did pretty good.”