Linn-Mar Varsity Poms among nation’s best

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Linn-Mar Varsity Poms team has reached new heights.

The team finished fourth in the Jazz portion of the 2017 UDA National Dance Competition at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inside the Walt Disney World Resort, the highest in school history.

The Lions also finished seventh in the Poms division.

Todd Frazier, whose daughter Katie is a sophomore on the team, said the poms team is 'basically a 10-month-a-year sport with practice after school, on weekends and over the summer.”

The team is led by seniors Isabel Berg, Cassidy Burns, Kennedy Chapman, Madison Driscoll and Madison Japenga. Madison Bradley, Kennedy Hannan, Lorissa Hickson, Kelly Johnson, Emily Pistulka and Elizabeth Wild are juniors on the varsity team, and Brynn Carr and Maddie Kerr are sophomores. along with Katie Frazier. Six freshmen - Rylie Bradley, Olivia Chapman, Delaney Hannan, Elle Magnussen, Mady Sevareid and Nina Taylor - also competed with the varsity team.

The team is coached by Jennifer Hammes and assisted by Carly Hachey.

'Our daughters spend so much time practicing and performing, that this program truly impacts who they are as young adults,” Todd Frazier wrote. 'Dance is their life and has been since they were very little, hoping to someday be part of this program.

'We can't thank Coach Jen Hammes enough for all that she gives to our daughters as a role model, a coach and a friend.”

The junior varsity team, coach by Suzanne Johnson, also had success this season, placing first place in Jazz and Poms at regionals in Minneapolis.

- Information provided by Todd Frazier