By Eileen Persike

The Rhinelander High School Dance Team traveled to Minneapolis February 19- 21 to compete at the Dance Xtreme USA AmeriCup Dance Championship held at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The Hodags took first place out of five teams in Varsity Small School Hip Hop. This is the fifth national title that the Hodags have earned in the Hip Hop category. They also performed their Jazz routine this weekend and received an Academic Excellence Award for having a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. This is the 7^th year that the team has competed at this event (formerly UPA Nationals) under the direction of head coach Tricia Winter and assistant coach Bailey Welch.

The team received an escort by the Rhinelander Police Department, Rhinelander Fire Department and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department upon their return to town.

Participating in this competition was made possible by the support  of the school administration and community businesses that assisted them in making their way to this event, including: United Steel Workers Local 2-15, Metro Screen printing & Embroidery, Trinity Lutheran Church, Spine & Sport, Amerigas, Rhinelander GM Auto Center, Boyd Financial, Stifel, The Feed Store, Advanced Health, Anytime Fitness, Frasier’s Plumbing & Heating, Eversco Ltd., Hearing Advantage, LLC, Aspirus Clinics, Inc., Diel Insurance Group, Pawz ‘n Clawz, Enterprise Wood Products, Essential Oils – Danette Denny, Jamberry – April Keating, RHS Class of 1965, Thirty One – Karrie Liebherr, the Koth family, the Gilbert family, the Koser family, the Harris family, Penca Photography, Britton Photography, Oneida County Tavern League, Hodag Gun & Pawn, Dominic’s, Rhinelander Cafe & Pub, Northwestern Mutual, Swearingen’s Al-Gen Dinner Club, Printpack, Karaba, Susan DeGrant, Susan Schmidt, Darrell E. Schmidt, DDS, SC, Jailhouse, Shady Sue’s, Jason’s Automotive Service, Hjelle Chiropractic, Sark Investments and Re-Vive.