Northfield Hiliners qualify for state for 1st time in 17 years

For the first time in 17 years, the Northfield High School Hiliners dance team will be participating in the upcoming 2024 MSHSL Class AA dance state tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis Friday, Feb. 16.

They will participate in the jazz competition at state, which will begin that day at 11:30 a.m. with the Class A qualifying rounds, while the Class AA and Class AAA qualifying rounds are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. For the teams that qualify, the tournament finals will be held that evening, with the Class A finals starting at 5:30 p.m. and the Class AA and Class AAA finals starting at 7:15 p.m.

The Hiliners punched their ticket to the state finals by virtue of their third place finish at the recent Section 1AA championships in Kasson-Mantorville High School on Saturday, Feb. 10.

In the jazz competition at the section meet, Northfield earned one of the top three state qualifying spots with a score of 14 points, while South St. Paul was second at nine and Austin led the competition with six points.

In the high kick competition at the section meet, the top three teams were first place Austin (5) followed by Faribault (10) and Albert Lea (16). The Hiliners just missed a bid to state in fourth place with 18 points. This marks the first time in 17 years that Northfield has advanced to the state tournament in dance.

“The team had their best performances of the season, only being three points away from also making It to state in the high kick category,” Hiliners head coach Jasmin Kotek said. “Overall, the team culture this season is what I have been aiming to create for the past five years — always putting the ‘we’ before the ‘me’ and pushing everyone to the next level.”

The Hiliners on this year’s varsity Jazz roster included: Kailey Bricko, Leena Brown, McKenna Carlson, Megan Carlson, Ruby Heil, Lily Holman, Sophie Meyer, Maren Simonson, Danica Sorem, Ryland Updike, and Madison Vosjepka.

The 2023-24 varsity high-kick roster included: McKenna Carlson, Molly Bauer, Sophie Meyer, Lottie Keller, Leena Brown, Danica Sorem, Megan Carlson, Maraiden Scheurer, Lily Holman, Ruby Heil, Ryland Updike, Kailey Bricko, Maren Simonson, Sophie Tietz, Madison Vosjepka, Isabella Moreno, Sawyer Heath and Esme Garcia.