BLOOMINGTON — Moments after her Morris competitive dance team performed its routine in the first-ever IHSA finals at Bloomington’s U.S. Cellular Coliseum on Saturday, coach Becky Struck was brimming with confidence.

“I thought the girls did phenomenal. They had so much energy and that’s kind of what we prepared them for,” Struck said. “There are ten teams that are gunning for the 1-2-3 spots. There are seven teams that are walking home today (without a trophy) and they didn’t want to be one of them, so their energy was phenomenal today.”

Unfortunately for Struck and her dancers, the high energy performance was deemed by the IHSA judges to be only seventh best in Class 2A, sending the team home empty handed, but full of lasting memories of competing in a ground-breaking, inaugural state championship event.