On April 15, the Javelina Sapphires Dance Team won first place in every category they competed in at the American Cheer Power Fiesta Texas Championship.
The Javelina Sapphires, consisting of Team Co-Captain Lidia Morales, Co-Captain Tiphanie Contreras, Alisa Jones, Jessica Pearson and Islla Fernandez achieved first place in Pom, Jazz, and lyrical.
“Our dance team has been trying to broaden their horizon for a while now,” said Javelina Sapphires Adviser Serena Reopelle-Munoz.
The ACP Fiesta Texas Championship is the first ever competition that The Sapphires have competed in.
The competition was tough with middle schools, high schools, other universities, as well as dance studios competing.
Despite the number of experienced competitors, the many first place victories now place the Javelina Saphires as a distinguished team within the organization.
“They have been working on this for a long time so we’re happy they finally got to achieve their goals,” Reopelle-Munoz said.
Having been working on their choreography since January, the team worked really hard practicing and rehearsing the routine created by Morales.
“I remember driving up there with tears in my eyes because we were given a chance to show all the hard work we put into dance,” Morales said.
The journey was not easy. Rehearsals were difficult, school obligations would often interfere with the schedules of practice, some even leaving the team days before competition leading to on-the-spot changes in routines.
Despite all of that, Morales was confident in the team she did have and was ecstatic to hear their name called not just once, but three different times.
“I’m extremely proud of and happy for my girls for all we accomplished together,” Morales praised.
It was tough, but the girls of the team feel they left this new experience better than they were before.
“The biggest lesson that I learned from this competition is to remain hopeful no matter what obstacles are thrown your way,” Jones said.
With this newfound momentum, the next destination for The Sapphires is the Universal Dance Association College Summer Dance Camp in UT Austin in July in hopes of competing in a major varsity competition.
“They left their hearts on the dance floor, and they were happy to bring some recognition to A&M Kingsville,” Reopelle-Munoz said.
Full of pride and motivation to keep improving, the TAMUK Javelina Sapphires move forward one step at a time.