A10
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
‘Dedicated to dance’
Grant Union Gold shines in return to live competition
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
PENDLETON — Grant Union Gold
dance team had its best performance of
the season at the Pendleton Dance Com-
petition Saturday, Feb. 26, taking home
the second-place trophy.
The dance team’s lone senior, Emily
Finley, said the squad scored nearly 13
points out of a possible 20 at its last com-
petition. In Pendleton, where the school
competed against Hermiston, the judges
awarded the dancers almost 16 points.
“That just shows how much we’ve
grown,” Finley said. “And that’s all
we really cared about. We didn’t really
care about getting second. We just cared
about growth.”
Carli Bremner, Grant Union Gold’s
head coach, told the Eagle that the team
had transitioned from an entirely online
format to competing in person this year.
“The girls have really stepped up, and
they’re doing phenomenal,” Bremner
said. “They’re just thriving in this back-
to-normal competitive environment.”
With Bremner going on maternity
leave in mid-February, assistant coach
Jocelynn Smith has been overseeing the
team’s day-to-day operations.
According to Bremner, that has
been another change that the team has
responded well to.
“The girls have done so well transi-
tioning,” she said. “It’s just been a really
great year.”
Smith echoed Bremner’s senti-
ment regarding the dance team’s abil-
ity to adapt to changing circumstances,
and she said she attributes the squad’s
improved scoring to good old-fashioned
hard work.
She said the team has early morn-
ing practices that begin at 6 a.m., and
the dancers travel to Eugene and Salem
a majority of the time for competitions.
“The girls are really dedicated to
dance,” Smith said. “And they really
love it.”
Smith said what she fi nds impres-
sive about the team is that many of the
girls are relatively new to dance, and the
team is competing against much larger
schools.
“We’re not very far away from the
4A schools,” Smith said, “which is really
exciting.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
From left, Grant Union dancers Emily Finley, Emma Schlarbaum, Alyssa Catalani and Hailey Mecham go through the team’s routine, “The Bones,” on Satur-
day, Feb. 26, 2022, at the Pendleton Dance Competition.
Contributed photo/Jocelynn Smith
From left, Emily Finley, Hailey Mecham, Emma
Schlarbaum, Maddie McManus and Alyssa Catalani
pose with their second-place trophy on Saturday,
Feb. 26, 2022, at the Pendleton Dance Competition.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
From left, Grant Union’s Maddie McManus, Hailey Mecham and Emily Finley perform on Saturday,
Feb. 26, 2022, at the Pendleton Dance Competition at Pendleton High School.
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