The Montevideo Gold Dusters qualified for state Class A high kick competition with a third-place finish in the Section 3A competition here Saturday.
The Yellow Medicine East Silhouettes edged the defending champion Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd Shadows for first place.
The Gold Dusters were third, followed in order by BOLD, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, New Ulm Cathedral, Minneota, Canby, Lakeview, Renville County West, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, MACCRAY, Paynesville and Wabasso.
This will be the Gold Dusters’ first appearance in state competition since 2007.
“We are very excited to be going back to state after two years off,” said coach Sharon Forde. “(The scores for) YME and LqPVDB were very close. We did not have a great performance and our scores showed it. We were definitely in third place, but we know we can do a better performance at state.”
For seniors like team captain Abbie Haugen, qualifying for state competition was very special, since none of the current Gold Dusters have competed at state before.
“We were just hoping to get to state,” said Haugen. “Nobody on our team this year has danced at state before. Our goal was to place higher, but we were happy just to go.
“We had really great energy but we had a few more mistakes than we’ve been having.”
The Gold Dusters will compete in the state Class A preliminary round, starting at noon Saturday at Target Center in Minneapolis. The Class A finals are scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m.
Other teams in state high kick competition are Cannon Falls, Lake City, and St. Charles from Section 1; Aitkin, Concordia Academy-Roseville, and Marshall School of Duluth from Section 2; and Pelican Rapids, Bagley, and Albany from Section 4.
Cannon Falls is the defending Class A champion and one of the favorites this year, along with Aitkin and the three teams from Section 3, according to Forde.
“My hope is all three of us from Section 3A go to finals. The top two spots will probably be Aitkin and Cannon Falls and the third spot someone from our section. But you never know, anything can happen at state.”
Qualifying for state competition in jazz here Saturday were BOLD, Yellow Medicine East and Renville County West. State jazz competition will be held Friday.
