Dance Team: Brainerd one spot from finals, Aitkin advances

The state jazz finals continue to elude the Brainerd Warriors.

Brainerd finished seventh out of 12 teams, but only the top six advance into the finals after the Class 3A state qualifying round Friday, Feb. 15 at Target Center in Minneapolis.

"We probably had the best performance of the year," Warrior head coach Cindy Clough said. "We're happy about that. It's kind of an emotional rollercoaster for the kids because you never know where you're going to place. We thought we were going to be up there, but we weren't. Now we'll go back at it (Saturday)."

For Aitkin, the jazz finals have become a routine and it continued Friday as it was one of the top six teams along with Frazee and Duluth Marshall for a Class 4-1A sweep. Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson Boyd, Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Yellow Medicine East also advanced with Lac qui Parle Valley winning the title.

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State Jazz

• Class 1A highlights: Aitkin advances to finals
• Class 3A highlights: Brainerd places 7th
• Next: Aitkin in Class 1A state kick at Target Center 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16; Brainerd in Class 3A state kick at Target Center 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 16

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Zumbrota-Mazeppa was second with Frazee, the defending state champions, finishing third. Aitkin finished fifth with 20.5 rank points.

The top six teams in Class 3A were Maple Grove, Eastview, Edina, Wayzata, Prior Lake and Lakeville North.

"I haven't really had time to analyze all of our scores," Clough said. "We were happy with most of them. There were a couple of judges we weren't happy with. One judge had us in 10th out of 12.

"We danced early and that's hard in terms of being a judge. I've judged before and you don't want to lock yourself into a corner when you're judging the teams and the team comes out second. Generally speaking, you judge a little lower for the first few teams. I'm not saying that's what kept us out, but we just weren't there. We felt really proud of how our kids did."

Brainerd collected 659 points, which was 31 points behind sixth-place Lakeville North. The Warriors ended with 35 rank points with all but two judges giving them the No. 7 spot.

Anoka was eighth and St. Cloud Tech 12 for Section 4-3A teams.

Edina was in the lead after the qualifying round with 749 points out of 800 and eight rank points.

Wayzata and Edina both ended with seven rank points, but Wayzata captured the title. Edina finished second and Eastview in third.

Both Brainerd and Aitkin will compete in Saturday's state kick competition. The Class 1A qualifying round will begin at 11:30 p.m. Aitkin will hit the floor at 12:33 p.m.

The Class 3A qualifying round will begin at 2 p.m. with Brainerd performing at 2:12 p.m.

Class 1A finals will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the 3A finals are at 7:15 p.m.

"We gave the kids some time off to go eat and regroup not as a group. We broke them up into smaller groups. We're going to practice our kick tonight in the ballroom and really rev it up and sometimes that will rev them up and get them really ready for (Saturday). Hopefully, it gives them a little fuel."

Class 1A team scores:

Jazz: 1-Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson Boyd 5 rank points, 2-Zumbrota-Mazeppa 14, 3-Frazee 16.5, 4-Yellow Medicine East 17.5, 5-Aitkin 20.5, 6-Duluth Marshall 23.5

Class 3A team scores:

Jazz: 1-Wayzata 7 (tiebreaker used), 2-Edina 7, 3-Eastview 13, 4-Maple Grove 20, 5-Prior Lake 26.5, 6-Lakeville North 27.5