[Matman]

The regional competition was held today at Magoffin County. The top 2 finishers in each division were awarded bids to the state competition at Belleramine University in Feb. I attented the competition and felt the competition was judged fairly and if I were a judge I would have judged it the exact same way. I felt that Prestonsburg pom was very clean but it wasn't as hard or as fast as Magoffins. In jazz I thought it would be close between Prestonsburg and Magoffin but I think it came down to PHS having better technique. PHS hands down deserved hip hop and open. MCHS hip hop would be better suited in the jazz or open category. There was no hip hop in it and PHS was a true hip hop routine. Shelby Valleys open routine was a straight high kick routine and it is very hard to compare a kick routine to a variety routine with all styles in it like PHS. I was also very impressed with the schools who have 1st year dance teams. I give props to Sheldon Clark and Betsy Layne. If these teams keep up the hard work they should be really good in the next few years. The results are as follows

Pom
1st Magoffin County
2nd Prestonsburg

Jazz
1st Prestonsburg
2nd Magoffin

Hip Hop
1st Prestonsburg
2nd Magoffin

Open
1st Prestonsburg
2nd Shelby Valley

Grand Champions
Magoffin