Emery High Spardettes take region title

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The Emery High Spardettes dominated at the Drill Team Competition on Jan. 20, at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield. This was the first year in the new region which consists of: Juab, Manti, Richfield, North Sanpete and Delta. Emery opened up the competition with their Military routine. In Military dance steps are not allowed and the general emphasis is on clean, sharp movements. The Spardettes placed second in this category.
The next category was Dance, where any dance movement is accepted. Emery took first place with this routine.
This was a big accomplishment considering this has been the most trying routine for the Spardettes this competition season.
The last category was a Kick routine. The focus in this routine is the technique and variety of kicks. The Spardettes took first place with their Kick routine as well.
As a result, the Spardettes took first in the overall standings for their region. The last time Emery took first place at region was in 2006-2007 when their current coach, Lacey Branson, was a senior on the team. Additional awards that were given to drill team members were: McCall Spears took second place in the drill down competition. Leisha Magnuson, Krystal Richardson, McCall Spears, and Miranda Stokes qualified for the All-Region Team.
All-Region Academic awards were given to Kara Stilson, Krystal Richardson and Miranda Stokes. This award is given to drill team members who maintained a 3.75 cumulative grade point average throughout the year.
The Region Drill competition will be broadcast on Jan. 26 on channel 10. The Spardettes are looking forward to taking their routines to the state competition on Jan. 30 at Utah Valley University in Orem. Spardettes welcome everyone to come and watch.
Coach Lacey Branson and Assistant Coach Heather Stilson said, “We would like to thank all of the Spardettes for their hard work and dedication to the team. We also would like to thank all of the parents and family members who have shown their support this year.”
Spardettes said, “We would like to thank Amanda Frandsen, Donn Jeffs, Jaley and Nadine Hinkins, Mckette Allred, Neil Peacock, and Darrell Gardner for all of their helpful insight. We also want to give a special thanks to Principal Larry Davis for being our biggest fan, and to the rest of the fans in the community.”