Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Big changes have followed the Forest Lake Dance team over the past two years. A season after they joined the Suburban East Conference to fall in line with the rest of the Ranger teams, dance is now governed by the Minnesota State High School League.

ìNow itís officially a sport,î head coach Angela Nelson says.

With the new status, the girls welcome a new head coach in Nelson and a notion to improve on last yearís fifth place finish at the section meet. With three section teams qualifying for state, Nelson knows exactly where she would like to end up come next February.

ìThatís our big goal is to make the top three,î she says.

Nelson and her assistant, Cheryl Smoczyk feel itís a real possibility because they have implemented better choreography, better music and the girls have been working extremely hard.

Co-captain Victoria Yamry agrees: ìWe can do it. Weíve already been working harder to get our dance perfected sooner. Weíre starting earlier and not going to make as many changes in our dances. Weíre going to have them strong throughout the season.î

In typical Suburban East Conference fashion, the competition is tough, with Cretin-Derham Hall, Stillwater, Mounds View and Roseville standing in the way of the Ranger dance team.

ìIn our conference, Mounds View is definitely at the top,î co-captain Jenni Faust shares, ìand Stillwater and Cretin are pretty much at our level.î

The dancers had their first meet on Monday, Dec. 4 at Roseville and will not host one at Forest Lake until the SEC meet arrives on Monday, Jan. 22.

ìItís really about uniformity. Itís not about standing out,î Smoczyk says. ìStanding out is a bad thing. In that regard itís a really cool team sport.î

The dancers compete in high kick and jazz/funk, and they are judged on choreography, uniformity, formation and technique.

At this early stage of the season, the coaches believe their team is stronger in the kick, but the jazz is coming along nicely.

ìWeíre generally, talent-wise, better at the kick, but right now the varsity kick routine is so difficult,î Smoczyk says.

With just six seniors out of a roster of 39 dancers, Forest Lake is a fairly young group, but the team has plenty of potential as nearly all of them are experienced studio dancers.

In a rather unique set-up, a girl can compete at the varsity level in one style of dance, and then move down to junior varsity in the other, but a top three finish is where the Rangersí want to be.

ìThis year our whole teamís unified and we all have the same goal,î Yamry says. ìWeíre all pushing each other to do our best.î

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