My daughter Sarah is floating like a bird today. They placed third in the regional competition and continue on to the Virginia state championships! They were a long shot in some respects. Not because they struggled, no. They have been tight and flawless for months. It was because of a screw-up with a timekeeper that bumped them from the district finals unfairly. Everyone objected. Even the other schools. We objected and were told at first it was "done" and to go home, but we didn't. We appealed and the board sided with us and swapped them back in at 3rd place just as they should have been all along.
So today we went to the regional competition with four districts, including Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Nansemond, Suffolk, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach. We beat the favorite from our district, Ocean Lakes H.S., which was totally unexpected, but like I said, PAHS was flawless. We had NO points deducted for anything. Very rare. The interesting thing is that the team that placed 1st was Bethel High School, which was my high school.
Next weekend we go to VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) for the state championship!
Here's a clip from the district finals my daughter Sarah was a part of. They got ripped off by a crappy time-keeping screw-up that bumped them out of third place. The timekeeper should be fired or sent to work in another role in another state. Everyone that timed their routine came up roughly around 2 minutes 34 seconds, which is well within the required limits. No drops. No steps outside the matts, good synchronization. The other teams sucked (except for Ocean Lakes, who was pretty good). The officials on site refused to reconsider even though the evidence is undeniable. Politics is always the same everywhere.
EPILOGUE/UPDATE: I just received word that the official board reviewed the tapes and timings and revised the decision. Kempsville got bumped out and replaced by Princess Anne Hight School!!! Holy crap. The word last night was that there was little, if any, hope of a correction. Great news and it gives hope that people will do the right thing.
