The Silverton dance and drill program has once again brought home a state championship.
The 2022-23 squad, coached by Alex Reese and Emily Sword, took home first place in Class 5A in jazz and second place in traditional March 17-18 at the Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavilion in Salem.
The state title was the fifth in school history, following 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2014 titles under former coach Paula Magee, who also coached the squad to a runner-up finish in 2015.
Reese and Sword were four-year team members in the early 2000s (Sword graduated in 2003 and Reese in 2006) and served as assistant coaches on the 2014 title squad while also working with Magee at her downtown Silverton ballet studio.
The 2022-23 season was conducted under different rules. The state meet used to consist of just the “traditional” performance.
This year the OSAA added the “categories” events (jazz, pom, kick and hip hop) that used to be conducted in the fall. This meant, Reese told Our Town, that “you could enter two routines in different styles rather than just the one routine like in the past. It made things a bit trickier for us because normally we perform different routines throughout the season and then start on our ‘state’ routine in January. But this year, we learned both of our state routines in November and had to dance them through the entire year.
“It can feel a bit tedious, but it did allow us the opportunity to really perfect our routines and get good feedback from judges at the previous competitions leading into state. We felt better prepared for state this year than ever before.”
In the jazz event, the team danced to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ version of “Higher Ground.”
“The team was able to really showcase their love of dance in this routine,” Reese said. “They did a spectacular job with their facial expressions and showing the pop in their leaps and all the other jazz skills they have been working on all year.”
In the traditional competition, where Silverton finished second to Canby, the team danced to “Walk With Me” by GoldFord.
“This routine leans more towards ballet and really showcases their talent as trained ballet dancers,” Reese said. “The message of the routine was all about working together and lifting each other up. They showcased this style very well by using their breath and really dancing through the movement. It has more fluidity than the sharpness of a jazz routine.”
Silverton’s 15-person squad was a mixture of youth and experience, led by five seniors, Stella Harrison, Addy Rich, Courtney Zurcher, Mia Hohenshelt and Eleanor Brown. There were three juniors, Savannah Strader, Keira Chaparro and Gwen Arbuckle; three sophomores, Jack Hurley, Hailey Vinogradoff and Paisley Rains as well as freshmen Marissa Schacher, Brooklyn Yates, Abby Brown and Annabel Brueckner.
Harrison was named to the all-state squad.
Silverton won five competitions before the state meet, leading Reese to conclude “they knew they had the potential to be champions.”
“We always have faith that our team is going to be successful and unfortunately it doesn’t always work out that way, but we never give up and always push the team to try harder. We lucked out this season by getting a very talented group that already had the drive. We also had some truly incredible seniors that are not only talented dancers but that also really motivate the rest of the team to give it their all. We are going to really miss them next season.”
Girls Basketball: The Class 5A tournament 4th place game between the Foxes and Rex Putnam ended right at the Our Town deadline for its March 15 edition. We got the game in but did not have access to the final statistics, all-tournament team and other honors.
In addition to the 4th place trophy, Silverton took home the sportsmanship award for the 8-team tournament. It was inspiring for me to arrive for a 9 a.m. Friday morning game more than an hour away with snow falling outside and find a virtually full rooting section and band ready to go.
James Day
Silverton’s Kyleigh Brown made first-team all-tournament, a step up from her second-team honor a year ago. Brown finished the tournament with 42 points, 26 rebounds, ten steals and seven assists while making 22 of 27 free throws. The 5-8 junior finished 5th in scoring, tied for 2nd in rebounding, and 5th in steals and led the tourney in free throws made.
As a team the Foxes made 40 of 57 free throws, a 70.2% clip, while leading the field in foul shots made. Silverton, which prides itself on its defense, allowed just 35.7 points per game, which led the tournament. No opponent reached 40 against the Foxes, who finished 22-6 under first-year coach Alyssa Ogle.
Starters Brown, Justina Semerikov and Grace Hayashida will return, along with key role players Allie Mansur and Brooklyn Pfeifer.
