By SARI ZEIDLER
The team competed in three categories at each competition - Pom, Lyrical and Kick.
"We've always placed well in all of our categories, but we've never swept the board like we did this time," said Captain Jessica Rubinstein, a senior.
Team members take immense pride in their win, saying they had to break down barriers before they could break records. The long season that brought the 23 team members together for months of extended practices brought them together as friends - a feat made difficult in earlier years by the high school class system that divides upperclassmen from underclassmen.
Mepham's varsity kickline now comprises freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. There is no junior-varsity team. And, with a season that goes from June to March, longer than any other sport at the school, kickline is only for the dedicated.
Seated together around a long table after school, the girls laughed about the long practices and pre-competition sleepovers. "It's our life," Rubinstein said.
"When my sister was captain, the team was so segregated," with upperclassmen separated from underclassmen, said Jenna Klerer, the team's only junior captain.
"We wanted to be one team," said the third captain, Kristina Bopp, a senior.
The captains' vision was echoed by their teammates, 11 freshmen, seven juniors and five seniors, who laughed about frequent trips to Sunrise Kafe in Bellmore as they finished one another's sentences.
Coaches Kerry Dennis and Jackie Miller, both Mepham social studies teachers, said the girls' friendship comes through in their performances. "They move as one unit," said Miller, adding that at the Scholastic competition, the team's performance was so impressive that it prompted judges to compliment them on choosing an expert choreographer. Unlike many kickline squads, however, the Mepham team created its own routines.
"They have ownership of their team," said Miller. While many other squads are handed uniforms, the Mepham team chooses its own costumes, makeup and hairstyles, and must spend time after practices shopping for necessities and planning details that help them stand out, Miller said.
To raise money, the kickline team organized fundraisers that included the whole school. Earlier this year, members organized a program called "So They Think They Can Dance," based on the popular MTV show "America's Best Dance Crew."
After regular kickline practices, the girls took groups of 70 students and 15 faculty members and choreographed dance routines for them. The teams then competed to impress celebrity judges and central high school administrators, all to raise money and support for the team.
"I think they have support all the way from the top," said Dennis.
At competitions, girls said they were driven by a cheering section of classmates with painted faces and faculty members, including Mepham Principal Mike Harrington.
"The school support really helped us. It made us want to do better," Bopp said.
Now that the competition season is over and seniors will be moving on to college next September, Klerer said she wants to keep the unity fostered this year alive as she moves on to be a captain again next year.
Reminiscing over her four years on kickline, Rubinstein looked around at her team and said, "It really did bring so many people together."
Comments about this story? Szeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
