Hillsborough exhibited their thrilling show, “Penguins of the World Unite” on Jan. 31 in the gymnasium with families, friends, coaches and other teams filling the stands.
“I’m extremely proud of how far we’ve come as a group not only throughout this season, but in the past six seasons I’ve led our group,” senior captain Judith Quiroz said.
Not your average sport, winterguard is an activity that involves a combination of different dance styles while using props or equipment like flags, rifles and sabres. Performances are indoors and, in high school, they will last three to five minutes depending on the competitive class. Awards are handed out to the teams that score the highest for the judges based on many categories and the overall performance.
As the team folded out the floor and set up props and equipment, a soft melody began through the speakers. Inspired by the movie “Happy Feet” the performers dressed in creatively designed penguin costumes and waddled out. They remained consistent throughout the exciting show by smiling and staying in playful characters. The music was amped up to a fast paced tempo with songs “Happy Feet Two Opening Medley” and “Boogie Wonderland” from the movie soundtrack.
For the seniors on the team, Emilia Esposito, Quiroz and Elizabeth Warmke, this show is their last time performing on their home floor.
“It was a lot of fun and as the music ended it felt bittersweet because I knew that was the last time I would be performing in our home gym,” said Quiroz.
“I’m gonna miss the exhibition at the beginning of the season,” Warmke said. “We don’t compete or get scored, but it’s still nerve-racking to have someone other than your coaches see your full show.”
The Raiders demonstrated a lot of their hard work done that night by doing difficult tricks and tosses. There were turns under tosses, a partner feature with a flag being wrapped around the waist of another person tossing a rifle, even a riveting flag feature with a 45 wrap around. With every toss, turn and catch, booming cheers and applause filled the room. An impressive solo toss into the splits from junior Annika Lambert-Smith wrapped the night up.
Since the home performance, the team has competed at Council Rock South High School on Feb. 7 in the Main Guards circuit placing fourth in the Scholastic A division against eight other schools. They’ll go on to compete at Bridgewater High School, Hunterdon Central High School and Elizabeth High School in the upcoming weeks.
“I’m feeling really confident for the rest of this winter guard season,” said junior captain Annika Bicierro. “Everyone on the team works really hard and the work we’ve done truly shows.”
The highest score up to date for Hillsborough is a 76.72 earned at their Hunterdon Central High School competition. The team works to perfect their show before the Mid Atlantic Indoor Network Championships on April 19 hosted at Lehigh University.
