MINNEAPOLIS-Aitkin's trophy case might need an expansion.
With six rank points, Aitkin claimed the Class 1A jazz title Friday at Target Center.
Aitkin bettered defending champion and runner-up Frazee by three rank points. Yellow Medicine East placed third with 17 rank points.
"We had really good sharpness, lots of emotion and good timing," Aitkin head coach Lisa Roth said. "We made a slight bobble in one of our turns, but that was about it.
"Our choreography really separated us."
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Roth said Friday's win will give Aitkin a boost heading into Saturday's kick tournament.
"We've been second in jazz so many times," said Roth. "We've been right there. We had good practices all day."
Making the Class 1A All-Tournament team from Aitkin were Shelly Stephani and Courtney Conner.
Crosby-Ironton did not advance to Friday night's finals. C-I finished eighth out of 12 teams.
"We had the best performance of the season," said C-I head coach Amy Turk. "It was very clean, sharp and we nailed all our skills. It was our goal to execute our final jazz routine as one that we can look back on and be proud of. It was a very tough competition. All 12 of the teams were amazing so we were very happy with being No. 8 in the State and look forward to competing in the high kick tournament Saturday."
Also not advancing to Friday's finals was Brainerd, which finished eighth, three total points out of seventh.
"It was our best performance so we couldn't have asked for a better effort from our girls," said Warriors head coach Cindy Clough. "They were pretty confident going into the performance. We had a good practice day and they really did have their best showing. The entire team, we had our best turn timing and some good scores. We were only three total points from seventh place and the top six teams advance to the finals.
"We thought we had a chance to grab that sixth spot. We figured it was between Lakeville North, Anoka, us and St. Cloud Tech and it ended up going to Lakeville.
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"We did beat St. Cloud Tech by 30 points, which was great because we hadn't beaten them all year, which just proves it was our best showing.
Brainerd had a quick practice run with its kick team, which will perform Saturday in the class 3A kick meet at Target Center.
"I ran through our routine once and it looked so good," said Clough. "The girls were on fire to get back out on the floor (Saturday). They are ready to go and we're excited for tomorrow."
Class 3A Team scores: 1-Eastview 5, 2-Maple Grove 13.5, 3-Edina 14.5, 4-Wayzata 15.5, 5-Prior Lake 22.5, 6-Lakeville North 28, 7-Anoka, 8-Brainerd, 9-St. Cloud Tech
Class 1A Team scores: 1-Aitkin 6, 2-Frazee 9, 3-Yellow Medicine East, Granite Falls 17, 4-St. Charles 20, 5-Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd 22.5, 6-Duluth Marshall 26.5, 7-Bold 34.5, 8-Crosby-Ironton 40.5, 9-Worthington 42.5, 10-Zumbrota 44.5, 11-Randolph 46.5, 12-PACT 55.5
