FOREST LAKE- The Brainerd Warriors won the kick competition and finished third in jazz in the Section 4-3A meet to qualify for the 3A state tournament in both events.
Following Brainerd in kick were St. Cloud Tech and Anoka. In jazz, Anoka won followed by Tech and Brainerd.
"(The girls) wanted to go to state and they brought their 'A' game," Warriors coach Cindy Clough said. "They fought for it. Forest Lake's gym is small so we told them, 'The judges are close. You have to win their hearts with your faces and passion' and they did.
"During the awards ceremony, when you are standing in the line waiting, it is painful being in the first-place spot. When it gets down to first, you either win, or you don't get to go, so the anxiety is overwhelming. They go through all the athletes names on the third- and second-place teams. You are standing there and know that you either are winning or not going."
In kick, Clough said Brainerd performed its best routine of the season to capture the section. Clough said the Warriors were clear-cut winners with Tech five rank points behind Brainerd.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We were very excited that our scores had gone up so much," Clough said. "We won last weekend in kick too, but at sections our scores went up so much. That felt encouraging. We had changed formations to make them flow better. A credit to (assistant coach) Ali (Clough) for spending hours and hours reworking all the formations in the second half of the routine. They all have a better flow now and we bumped up our scores in that area.
"Credit also to the team which was so great about learning all the new changes that we throw at them. Our culture is so driven by whatever it takes that they suck it up and go to work. It's very tough mentally to learn new spots and have to go out and look confident doing them 3-4 days later."
Clough added that the Warriors also performed well in jazz.
"The top four teams were pretty close," she said. "Blaine was edged out and did not go to state for the first time in about 20 years. We ended in third and are thrilled to be going to state. We really performed well emotionally and technically.
"Our routine is 'Taps' and 'The Battle Hymn of The Republic.' It touches so many people and our imagery is always to dedicate our performance veterans who have served our country. It really tugs at your heart strings. Our challenge in jazz is controlling nerves and not get ahead of timing. We are thrilled to be going to state."
KICK
1-Brainerd
Total points: 595
Rank points: 4
2-St. Cloud Tech
Total points: 577
Rank points: 9
3-Anoka
Total points: 554
Rank points: 12
4-Blaine, 5-Forest Lake, 6-Rogers, 7-Elk River, 8-Duluth East, 9-Andover, 10-St. Francis, 11-Moorhead, 12-Bemidji, 13-Coon Rapids, 14-Buffalo
ADVERTISEMENT
JAZZ
1-Anoka
Total points: 586
Rank points 5.5
2-St. Cloud Tech
Total points: 573
Rank points: 9
3-Brainerd
Total points: 574
Rank points: 9.5
4-Blaine, 5-Forest Lake, 6-Duluth East, 7-Elk River, 8-St. Francis, 9-Rogers, 10-Andover, 11-Moorhead, 12-Buffalo, 13-Bemidji, 14-Coon Rapids
Next: Brainerd in Class 3A jazz meet Feb. 17, Class 3A kick meet Feb. 18, Target Center, Minneapolis.
