The Celebs kicked their way through the Belton competition on Feb. 20 and won overall grand champions as well as first place in soloists, line officers, social officers and more. Junior Claire Dunn was one of the soloist runner ups to the Celebs captain Mackenzie Lawrence, who took first place.

“It was awesome to see everyone’s solos and to see so many of my friends and teammates do so well this season,” Dunn said. “Mackenzie is one of my favorite people and also one of the most talented people I’ve ever met, so being a runner up to her made the experience even more special.”

The preparation for competition season started at the very beginning of football season, according to Dunn.

“From the moment football season ends, until the day before competition, we work every day on our competition dances,” Dunn said. “We had early morning practices every day before the class period and also often stayed after school to perfect all team dances, company dances and solos.”

When going into competition, Lawrence and the team were preparing for the talent they would be up against.

“We were expecting to face some tough competitors, but we still felt prepared with what we had to offer,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence won first place in her soloist performance, with two other CP celebs as runner ups, sweeping the soloist competition.

“It was such a blessing [to win first place],” Lawrence said. “It’s really great when I get to claim a title like that because I want my team to be proud of their captain so that they can feel pride for the team overall.”

Winning grand champions meant a lot to the celebrities, according to junior Brittany Ballou.

“It was such a great feeling to hear our names called as the grand champions because we’ve worked so hard the past couple of months,” Ballou said. “Winning meant all of our work paid off.”

Last year, instead of performing in competitions, the celebs went to L.A. for their big trip. This year the team focused on cleaning and polishing their dances so that they were prepared for competition, according to Ballou. But even with the big win, the celebrities have to focus in on the Spring Show called “Big Dreams” on aPr. 21-23, according to Lawrence.

“Although it’s a few months away, we’ve started working on our Spring Show dances,” Ballou said. “It takes a long time to get ready for the shows, and we want to make sure we’re ready to put on great performances.”