Xavier Pom Squad has eye on nationals

CEDAR RAPIDS - While many athletes and team are well into their winter seasons, one group has been practicing and competing since before school started.

The Xavier Pom Squad has almost a year-round season.

'I mean, we're always in competition season. It's a really long season,” sophomore Mary Tallett said.

The long season has not stopped the girls on from continuously pushing themselves, especially due to their qualification to compete at the National Dance Team Championship in Orlando, Fla., this season.

'We're preparing a lot with heavy conditioning and not stopping until we get it done,” sophomore Erin Smith said. 'Obviously the best teams in the whole country are there. We do pretty well in our state, but add 49 other states and then it gets interesting.”

The Xavier Poms have been to one competition so far this season, the Iowa Dance Challenge held at Anamosa High School. They placed first in the jazz division and second in the poms division. The team had to drop out of an earlier competition, however, because to two of its girls were not able to perform because to medical issues.

'I had appendicitis so I had surgery to get my appendix taken out,” senior Erin Foley said. 'That kind of set me back a little bit.”

Despite that bump in the road, the team is optimistic in regards to how it expects to do in its future competitions leading up to nationals.

'We're all super committed and we all want to be here,” Tallet said. 'I'm really excited because we have a lot of potential to do well,”

The Xavier Pom Squad competed at the state competition in Des Moines earlier this month and will head to regionals in Chicago on Jan. 10. The Saints' road to Orlando will culminate at the National Dance Team Championship on Jan. 29-30.