MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School Molahiettes dance team coach Jaylynn Hernandez said the 2022 state dance and drill championships were a bit more nerve-wracking than usual. In fact, the entire season presented some unusual challenges.

Over the years the Molahiettes have won multiple state and national championships, and Brooke Sanchez, one of the 2021-22 team captains, said that means there’s a standard to live up to every year.

“I think it’s expected of us to do well,” Sanchez said.

The 2020 and 2021 state championships were canceled and the 2020-21 season was shortened as a result of the recent pandemic. The classes of 2020 and 2021 had graduated and with them had gone a lot of experience.

“Everything was kind of new for everyone this year,” said co-captain Jacie Frey. “A lot of us hadn’t even been to state, on the floor.”

In fact, Sanchez was the only person on the 21-member team who had competed at state. Co-captain Felicity Svilar said the team didn’t know what to expect.

“It was hard to make everyone else feel comfortable about walking on the state floor when you’ve never really done it yourself,” Svilar said.

“The nerves were real that day,” Hernandez said.

But the Molahiettes lived up to expectations. They entered three categories, the maximum allowed, and won state titles in the military and pom competitions, finishing second in kick competition.

Svilar said the team was skeptical about its chances in the pom championship, especially after the awards had been announced for second and third, and neither was Moses Lake.

“We were up against some pretty good teams,” Svilar said.

“We were like, ‘Well, we didn’t win. It’s okay, we still did really great.’ And then we won,” Sanchez said.

“I think pom was the sweetest victory,” Hernandez said. “Not only had we been out of state for two years, but prior to that we were always so close to the pom championship, literally (taking second) by two points. Judges are hard, especially on Moses Lake, so it was just a sweet, sweet victory.

“Plus, like the coaches told (the team), it’s the best (routine) we’ve ever seen,” Hernandez said.

The Molahiettes faced the same uncertainties as other sports teams going into the 2021-22 season - two years without many competitions or much practice time together, and the junior and senior leaders had graduated. In addition, each style of dance requires very different skills. The military routine emphasizes precision, while the kick routine requires a lot of energy.

“Since each routine and each style is so different, there’s like a switch in your brain - you flip it and you focus on different things,” Sanchez said.

“For a drill team routine, the maximum amount of time you can have is three minutes. And our kick routine was two minutes and 45 seconds. I know that doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you’re doing it - stamina, you have to have it,” Svilar said. “So it’s all mindset. It’s like there are three different switches in your brain, and you’ve got to turn your kick switch on when you’re doing (the kick routine).”

“I’d like to think that we practice our routine so much - usually when you’re dancing you zone out for a second and it’s just gone,” Frey said. “Muscle memory, at least by the time state (competition) came around, where you had time to look around at your formations.”

Practice is one of the crucial elements in a good routine, team members said. The way the team works together is another.

Frey said she was optimistic from the beginning of the season, actually from the first performance.

“For our first football performance, we were all scattered - we were nervous, we had never performed as a team,” she said. “And after we finished and we watched the video, we knew it was going to be a good season. We were all so nervous, and everyone just came together.

“I’d say we were very fortunate this year with our team. We were all so close. You knew they would get out of the way for you. You knew they would catch you. They would be in the right place at the right time,” she said.

“I would say our team is definitely the closest it has been since we’ve been on the team,” Frey said.

“We were all so close,” Svilar said.

“We would all figure it out together, I think,” Frey said.

Practice matters too, and the Molahiettes do a lot of it. During competitions they practice instead of watching other teams.

“During the day of state we were out in the parking lot (practicing),” Frey said.

Molahiettes members get homework over the Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations, and continue practicing in the summer. The team kept working even as the pandemic closed school and in-person practice was limited, as coronavirus exposure meant dancers had to quarantine and practice closed down.

Attitude is the most crucial component, Svilar said. It’s a demanding sport, and being the best in the state at it is even more demanding.

“Having a positive mindset, I think, was the most important factor going into this year,” she said.

The captains gave credit to the team’s families for the support they provided the dancers.

The energy families and friends displayed during performances communicated itself to the team and helped encourage them, Hernandez said.

“We have the best parents,” Frey said.