Huntington Highsteppers Capture
First Place Honors
The Highsteppers, Huntington High School's dance team, kicked-off the competitive dance team in splendid fashion by capturing two first place trophies at the Long Island Scholastic Kickline Association competition at Nassau Community College last Sunday.
The Highsteppers earned top honors in the varsity lyrical dance category and in the varsity Single-A pom category. Huntington squared off against a combined 10 schools in the two categories.
"What a great start to the competition season for our dance team," said Joan R. Fretz, district director of fine and performing arts. "I am so proud of all the hard work our Highsteppers and their coaches do all year. It's great to have their wonderful routines and dance skill acknowledged so early in the season."
The Highsteppers are coached by Lora Ayala and new assistant coach Meredith Wipfler, a Highstepper alumnus who is excited to be working with the team. Ms. Ayala has been coaching the team for many years and is well-known for her unique choreography.
This year's squad is captained by Aliyah Cohen, Alexa Giammarino and Kelly McConnell. The team includes Jessica Harris, Mary Maiorello, Caroline Doscas, Chrissy O'Grady, Alex Smith, Livi MacVicar-Flug, Bianca Iarrobino, Brittney Robinson-Smikle, Katie Fleming, Kylie Phelan, Kristin Berner, Esti Lodge, Ashley Angstadt, Scarlett Lopez, Liz Sager and Alexa Gorczycki.
The Huntington team will compete in another LI Scholastic Kickline Assn. competition at Nassau Community College on February 6.
The Highsteppers will travel into New York City on February 12 for the New Jersey Nets Hardwood Challenge, a national competition that offers dance teams an opportunity to train with the NJ Nets dance team and later compete against many different high school dance squads that same day. The top three teams at the end of the competition are invited to perform during halftime of a game between the Nets and the New York Knicks.