The De Soto Diamonds dance team recently competed in its first competition of the year at Olathe South High School, where it won awards as a team and as individuals. The Diamonds won the Sweepstakes Award, Polish and Precision Award for Pom, Technique Award for Jazz, Showmanship and Energy Award for Contemporary and the Shining Star Award. In addition to the team’s success, junior Olivia Mills was one of the few solo winners at the competition.

This year the team is different since it does not have as many new members as it did last year.

“Last year we had a lot of new girls, so it was a lot of firsts,” assistant coach Emily Thayer said. “This year our girls are more seasonal so they know what’s expected … we do have three new girls, but the returners all know what the expectations are and what the competition is like. They know it’s serious, they know to do well, especially next weekend that will qualify us for Nationals, so we have to do well.”

For sophomore Ashlen Boresow, this is the first time ever doing a competition with the Diamonds, and Boresow likes how it brings the team closer together.

“What I really liked about going to my first competition was that I feel like I got a lot closer to my teammates, and it was a fun experience competing with the dances we’ve been working so hard on all year,” Boresow said.

Sophomore Claire Kennard agrees that a big part of competitions is getting to bond with the rest of the team.

“The dance team is like one big family and … the bonding factor is what makes the competitions so good,” Kennard said.

In addition to bonding with each other, sophomore Jolie Dobosz also likes bonding with the other dance teams the Diamonds compete against.

“One thing I love about competition is how supportive other teams are of each other. Everyone cheers everyone on. It doesn’t matter what team you’re on,” Dobosz said. “Everyone is super supportive, and it makes it a lot more fun.”

While the bonding is really similar to other teams when it goes to compete, something different about the dance team is that it cannot just sub in others when one person can’t compete.

“Last week we ended up practicing Friday after the competition because we had one of our friends on the team get hurt, so we had to rearrange our whole dances,” Thayer said. “It’s not like a sports team where you can just sub someone in. We had a routine set for 12 girls, so we had to [re]set it for 11 girls.”

The Diamonds will compete again this weekend, January 12-13, in the Kansas Spectacular Dance Competition at Olathe East High School. This is the competition that could qualify the team for nationals.