This Saturday the dance team will host their first and only home competition of the season as they prepare to defend last year’s first place wins at EHS.

The competition is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. where 36 teams and their 150 different routines will compete be performed throughout the day.

The dance team, led by the captain duo of senior Sydney Gerber and junior Lauren Trumpy, are preparing for their competition where last year their routines in jazz, lyrical and hip hop led the to three wins.

This year the team is instead competing with only two routines, lyrical and hip hop.

“Our strongest category has always been our lyrical dance,” Trumpy said. “…I’m also really excited about our hip hop dance this year because its crazy good and I can’t wait to see how it does.”

This year’s competition will be different, though.

“Normally we place first in all of our divisions, but this weekend we have a tougher competition,” Gerber said.

According to Gerber, the Illinois Drill Team Association combined class 2A and 3A into one division. The Tigers previously competed in the 3A division, but there will be more teams and more competition, Gerber said.

The girls are practicing hard to compensate for the change. The team has had practices over winter break and every day since they returned to school, according to Gerber.

“The teams we are up against are very good and coming from bigger cities,” freshman Anna Beard said. “We have been practicing long and hard so I have faith in our team.”

Beard, who has been dancing since she was three, is excited and a bit nervous to compete in her first home competition as a Tiger.

“I’m new to high school competitions which can be different from what I’m used to,” Beard said. “I’m a little nervous, but nerves are part of the excitement.”

The girls are hoping to win both their events and have their eyes set on the future of the season. According to Gerber, the team wants to win the state IDTA competition again and earn a spot higher than their fifth place finish last year at nationals.

As for Trumpy, she has her sights set on an even more ambitious goal for the team.

“We have it out for the first place trophy at National Dance Association nationals this year in Orlando,” Trumpy said. “We are doing everything we can to achieve that goal.”