[lively music]
When Leeah Justman and Jenna Riche
met at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh,
they had at least one thing in common.
- So I've been dancing since I was three.
- I have been dancing since I was in third grade.
- Angela: Both now compete for the UWO dance team,
along with young women from across Wisconsin.
- Here we go! [lively music]
- Dancer: One, two, three, four.
- Molly Wandersee: We have a couple of girls
from, like, the De Pere/Green Bay area.
From, like, Stevens Point, Wausau,
so, like, the middle of the state.
We have a lot of girls from the Milwaukee area.
- Dancer: One, two, three, four, punch, fly.
- Angela: Jenna and Leeah are part of a dance team
that is 100% student-led.
- We are student athletes.
So student comes first, athlete comes next.
[lively music]
- Yeah! - Good work!
- Whoo!
- Angela: It's a sport sidelined by the pandemic.
- Dancer: Ready?
- And their dream of dancing at Nationals had been dashed.
- Jenna Riche: Gosh, it was a very emotional time.
COVID had sent us home right before Nationals.
It was so incredibly heartbreaking for our team.
- Dancer: Ready?
- Leeah Justman: And it was really sad
to see those seniors and those juniors
that weren't coming back.
They weren't gonna get that chance.
- Angela: The team would regroup in 2021,
with one big difference.
- Jenna Riche: We had just almost a completely brand new team
who had never competed for UW Oshkosh.
And we put our best foot forward in everything we did
so that we could come back stronger and better.
- Dancers: U-W-O!
- Molly Wandersee: Everybody pushes each other
to do better and to be better.
[calling out dance steps] - There you go!
- We have a zero-drama policy, and that is so true.
- You guys come in. - Yep. - Okay.
- Angela: By the end of the season,
there would be plenty of drama.
- Leeah Justman: You gotta be ready to come to every single practice,
ready to win.
And ready to do your best every single time.
And if you don't,
then you're kind of letting your teammates down.
- Angela: They used the pandemic as motivation.
- Molly: Come on, ladies, pick it up!
Five, six, seven, eight.
- Angela: They wanted redemption.
- Dancer: Up, hit, hit!
- Angela: And a shot at Nationals.
- Molly: Nice job, Sabrina, hit!
Let's go!
- Angela: They spent months.
- Leeah: Yes, months and months and months.
- Angela: Preparing for that national competition
COVID had denied them.
- Dancer: Four, five, and six, seven, and eight.
- Jenna: So it was doing parts over and over and over
until it was genuinely perfect,
and every girl looked exactly the same.
- Dancer: Hit, hit, hit, hit! Yeah!
[dancers cheer]
You can do it! [happy laughter]
- Angela: The countdown was on.
For the first time in two years,
this team would represent UW Oshkosh
at the National Dance Alliance College Championship
in Daytona Beach.
- Before we went on the floor,
we definitely talked about dancing
for those people who didn't get that last performance.
[applause]
When you hit that first pose,
and you're about ready, the music's about to start.
You gotta take that nice deep breath.
As soon as the music starts, you just go for it.
[inspirational music]
- Molly Wandersee: They put a lot of work into their performances
and you can definitely see that
when they put all of that out on the floor for them.
- Jenna Riche: Those last 15 seconds,
I could feel the tears start to swell in my eye
because I was so grateful for the opportunity
to be able to do this for so long,
and love it so much.
- Angela: Now, it would be up to the panel of judges.
- Jenna Riche: I just remember saying, "Whatever happens, we did it.
"We put the best performance out there.
"The best performance that could be done
was out on that floor."
- Announcer: National Champion, with the final score of 89.20,
the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh!
[wild cheers and applause]
- Leeah Justman: Going into this year,
we were never expecting to win.
- Team: Five, six, seven, eight. [cheering exuberantly]
- Angela: UWO did win.
Bringing back to Wisconsin
its first-ever national championship for poms.
And a third-place finish with their jazz routine.
- Leeah Justman: I think after working for 18 years towards this big goal,
it was just so fulfilling.
- Jenna Riche: It makes it feel like all the years, and the hard times,
and the good times, and everything in between,
was worth it.
- Leeah Justman: We represent UW Oshkosh, the Titans.
Just an amazing experience.
- Dancer: Five, six, seven, eight.
- All: Titans, whoo, whoo!
U-W [clap] O!
[happy chatter in background]