LCHS Railette Dance Team brings home third state championship

 

[February 13, 2024] 

The Railette Dance Team took home its third State Championship trophy Saturday night.

The Illinois Drill Team Association held its 45th State Competition on Saturday at the BOS Center in Springfield.

The competition consisted of over 120 teams and lasted 15 hours, starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending with awards at 10:30 p.m.

The girls won the IDTA AA Pom State Championship with their routine featuring the song "Cheeseburger In Paradise" by the late Jimmy Buffett.

The team also finished seventh out of nine teams in the HIGHLY competitive Open Pom category.

“Watching the team take home second place last year was hard and coming in as coach my personal goal was for the team to not have that feeling two years in a row,” said first-year coach Emily Martinez. “I inherited a group of girls that were ready to be pushed to learn new skills and were hungry for a championship trophy.

"Throughout the competitive season, the girls overcame so many obstacles. From almost losing a dancer to injury to starting a routine from scratch a week before a regional competition, the girls kept focused and proved that no obstacle was going to stop them.

"The senior captains, Claire Duffer and Brynley Laubenstein, were a crucial part of the team's success. Their Railette years consisted of a COVID year where they weren't able to compete their freshman year, first place their sophomore year and second place their junior year. They were the only ones that knew the feeling of winning and close to winning.

"It was amazing to watch the seniors set goals for themselves and the team and then get to watch their hard work pay off. The entire team is a group of girls that were not only working hard on the dance floor, but in the classroom as well. The team had a combined GPA of 3.67 for the fall semester and 9 of 10 girls were recognized as scholar athletes at the IDTA State Competition’s awards ceremony. The team is truly remarkable and I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to start my high school coaching career.”

Martinez added, “We are so fortunate to have former LCHS Railette Dance Team coach, Brande Montgomery-McCree, choreograph our routines for competition. She is definitely a key part of our successful season.”

Congratulations, Railettes!

Seniors and Captains: Claire Duffer and Brynley Laubenstein

Junior: Emma Menzel

Sophomores: McKinlee Stoltzenburg, Kaylee Thomas, Ciara Senters, Sarah Dahmm, Hattie Roland

Freshman: Ryann Lile and Isabella Pollice

[Teena Lowery with information provided by Emily Martinez]