Poms took first place in Division II at the Watkins Mill Poms Invitational Saturday. This was the team’s first competition of the year following a fall season spent performing at football games. The Vikes defeated Northwood, Churchill, Wooton and Northwest to claim the gold.

Each team is scored on choreography, technical pompon execution, technical dance execution, group execution and overall presentation. The squad felt nervous going in because it was their first competition but felt excited to show off the hard work they put, junior Jillian Brodsky said.

Despite feeling good about the performance and result, the Vikes are hungry to make improvements.

“I felt very good about the performance,” junior Julia Choppin said. “There’s still a lot to improve on, but it was really good for our first competition.”

The Vikes’ goal for the season is to win first place at counties and move up to the first division.

The team’s next competition will be Jan. 12 at Blake High School.