Molahiette Dream Team!

Drill team has been having a great year so far! Moses Lake has a long standing tradition of a top notch drill team but when my friend, Lori Baker, took over as coach she took them to a whole new level. They are much more of a dance team now but they have traditionally been called a drill team so it's just easier to keep it that way. Before Lori took over, the team only competed one number in the dance/drill category. They practiced it over and over and it was almost always perfect by the time state rolled around and they almost always did very well. In the old days, the team only received ratings at the state level and superior was the highest rating you could earn. Moses Lake almost always had superior. These days they give placings at state (thank goodness for all of us overachievers who have to know who is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc!)

These days they have also done away with the dance/drill category. The six categories these days are dance (including jazz and lyrical), drill (aka military), kick, hip hop, pom and show/prop/color guard. A team is only allowed to compete 3 numbers at state.

Under Lori's direction the team has accomplished so much. Right now I can't even remember all that they have won during that time because it has been so much. The team has competed 3 numbers every year since Lori took over (and they practice less than the team had previously when they were working on only one number! How is that for efficiency?!) We have had two state titles in the same year and we have had two national titles in the same year with the third national's number taking 2nd. (Nationals is held at Disneyland and we travel there every other year or so to compete.) I think that since Lori took over the team has been either a state or a national champion every year (sometimes both) except last year. Suffice it to say, the team has accomplished a lot under Lori's direction. They practice every morning from 6:15-7:15 and 1-2 nights a week when they are preparing for competition.

We have competed in slightly different categories each year. The team is so multi-talented that it's hard to choose. They really do excel in every category. This year they are competing in dance (for the first time), kick and military. The road to state involves competing at however many regional competitions it takes a team to receive at least 2 qualifying scores to advance to Districts. At Districts, teams are then trying to receive qualifying scores to get to state. At those competitions, they do award placement trophies as well. Not every team qualifies for Districts and State, but qualifying is not extremely difficult. There are plenty of teams that make it to the state level. At the state level, it is divided up between conferences. All 4A schools (which is the biggest and the one we are in) compete against each other and the 3A, 2A and 1A schools compete against one another. So there are state champions in each of the two divisions.

So last year our team was not able to go to state and nationals because they conflicted. So we attended state and competed in Hip Hop, Pom and Military. I won't go into any details because it would probably end up sounding like sour grapes but let's just say the judging was unexplainable - is that a word? The judging was all over the place and not just for our team but for lots of other teams as well. Anyone who knows me knows that I compete to win but I am more than willing to give kudos to any team that does better. We did not get beat at state by teams that did better and, again, we were not alone. I think there were lots of teams that did not get what they deserved. It happens. Normally, though, you can kind of figure out what it was the judges liked and why they liked it but, honestly, there was just no explanation. So...

Moses Lake is looking for a little redemption this year! And it looks like things are going well so far which is really nice but kinda scary at the same time. We do have an amazing team this year. We have 13 seniors who are all very talented girls. It will be so hard to lose them. The team competed 4 routines at our first two regional competitions (the 3 that we are taking to state plus a pom number that was just a football routine that they competed for fun.) The girls got 1st place in all 4 of their numbers at both competitions! Last weekend we competed at our third and final regional competition at Kamiakin. There were lots of good teams there. There were about 8 numbers in the dance category including Hanford, Southridge, Mead, Kennewick so there was lots of good competition. We really didn't now how it was going to go but we got 1st again in all of our categories! We also got the highest scoring routine of the day with our Kick number!! Not only that but our other two numbers were 2nd and 3rd place for high score!!! Yeah for the Molahiettes!

Kylie is 4th year senior on the team and she is a captain along with Kenzie Baker and Mattie Bergeson. Kendall is a 2nd year sophomore on the team. It is really fun having two girls on the team. Lori has done a great job coaching and I really appreciate the time she has put into this.

Sad note - The Wenatchee team was at the Kamiakin competition but one of their teammates had been abducted and found murdered the week before so they did not compete but performed a tribute dance. With Wenatchee just over an hour away from Moses Lake that hits really close to home. We all felt so terrible for the family and the team.

The team is all smiles!



Time to celebrate!



Captains and Lieutenants - L-R Karlee, Kenzie, Mattie, Kylie and Caitlynn



Sisters and fellow Molahiettes



Kylie does love trophies!



All smiles after the Daddy Dance Down!



Parker and Bryan even came and watched!



Here is a treat for all of you who need a little laughter in your day. At the competition they had an impromptu Father/Daughter dance down. Here is David with Kylie and Kendall and on their left is Brett Bergeson with Mattie and Dayna. It goes on for quite a while and starts to get old, but try to keep watching until I zoom in on David. I think it's worth the wait!



Districts is March 13th in Tri-cities and the state competition is March 26th in Yakima. Good luck Molahiettes which, by the way, stands for Mo=Moses, La=lake, Hi=high, ettes-hotties!

Today's Generation update - We perform tonight at the Gonzaga game which is always fun. It is a father/daughter year so the crowd will love this one. It is a 70's mix and, yes, the dads are in white disco suits. I will try to get some pics. We have our first competition of the year which is Spotlight in Spokane on March 5-6. We do not feel ready, but I think that's always how it feels. I'm afraid as soon as I tell myself to relax and it will all be fine, then the on stage disaster that I am dreading will actually come to pass. I need some Xanax! Wish us luck!!