Jacobs’ competitive dance team won the Fox Valley Conference title Jan. 12 and is looking for a trip to the IHSA Competitive Dance Championships on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles took eighth in Class 3A last year when the competition was held as a virtual meet. They also qualified for state in four consecutive years, 2013-16.
Jacobs is one of many local teams that will be competing at the Sycamore Sectional. Teams from Classes 1A, 2A and 3A all will vie for a top-six finish, which would earn them a trip to the state finals at Bloomington’s Grossinger Motors Arena.
All the local schools, except Burlington Central, which competes at the Geneva Sectional, will be at Sycamore in one of the three classes.
Jacobs won the FVC Meet with Crystal Lake Central and Huntley, two other schools with strong finishes at the state meet, taking second and third.
Since competitive dance was started as an IHSA sport in 2013, Crystal Lake Central has five top-10 state finishes. The Tigers won Class 2A in 2013 and were fifth in 2016.
Huntley has three top-10 finishes in Class 3A, with a runner-up in 2017 and a fifth in 2020.
Woodstock and Woodstock North are in Class 1A at Sycamore. In Class 2A, along with Crystal Lake Central, will be Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South, Hampshire and Prairie Ridge. Local schools in the Class 3A field are Dundee-Crown, Huntley, Jacobs and McHenry.
Burlington Central competes in Class 2A at Geneva. The Rockets took fifth last year, which was a virtual meet, and were eighth in 2019.
The top six teams in each class advance to the state finals. There are five sectionals throughout the state.
The state finals preliminaries will begin at 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28 for Classes 1A and 2A and at 4:15 p.m. for Class 3A. The top 10 in each class advance to the finals on Saturday, with 1A and 2A at 11 a.m. and 3A at 2 p.m.
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