Philomath High School’s dance and drill team hosted its annual Dancing With the Stars competition Saturday with 10 schools competing in multiple categories.
West Albany emerged as the day’s top scorer, posting an event-high 83.28 points in the Traditional division while also claiming first place in Pom with 81.78 points — the second-highest score of the competition.
The host Shining Stars earned their lone first-place finish in the 1A-5A Hip Hop category, where Philomath was the sole entry, scoring 67.78 points and receiving an excellent rating. The Shining Stars also competed in Traditional, placing third with 65.67 points.
“We are very happy with where we are starting out with this routine,” PHS coach Jordyn McMullen said about the performance in Traditional. “For the first time performing, we got great feedback to help us improve for the rest of the season. As coaches, we were excited that our highest subcategory score across all three judges was projection because the dancers really committed to their character and emotion. This routine means a lot to our team.”
Assistant coach Katelynn Romviel and the rest of the team dedicated the routine to McMullen’s dad, who passed away in August 2025 from lung cancer.
“When coming up with the concept for this routine, I was very open with the team about how they were my light during these dark times,” McMullen said. “They were able to surprise me with this dedication and it really meant a lot.”
In addition to PHS and West Albany, other participating schools included Lebanon, Milwaukie, Newberg, Newport, North Bend, Roosevelt, Sheldon and Willamette. Competition categories featured Hip Hop and Jazz divisions split between 1A-5A and 6A classifications, while Traditional and Pom featured only 1A-5A entries.
Newberg had a strong showing with two first-place finishes — scoring 75.67 in 6A Hip Hop and 72.28 in 6A Jazz. Both performances came out of four-team fields in their respective divisions.
The 1A-5A Jazz category proved competitive, with Lebanon edging Milwaukie for first place, 77.61 to 76.00. Both teams earned outstanding ratings for their performances.
Newport placed second in Traditional with 69.33 points and third in Jazz with 69.28 points. Milwaukie took second in both Jazz and Pom, while North Bend finished fourth in Pom.
In the advanced drill-down competition, three Philomath dancers placed in the top 10 — Tori Cropp, Kaihautu Cropp and Marri Best.