The AHS Spirit team made history on Dec. 7. The Skiers traveled to The State Spirit Competition, which was held in the Denver Coliseum. The team has been hard at work perfecting their dance routine, and it finally paid off when they won the state championships.

The team had morning practice three days in a row leading up to the competition and worked through their exhaustion to put their best efforts into the dance. Also, the girls were provided with many opportunities to continue their training before states.

“I think the three competitions we went to before states were very beneficial, and I don’t know if we would have won without them because from each competition we got critiques from judges, and that really helped. We were able to feel what it’s like to perform in front of a live audience,” Lipsey said.

In the final round of the state competition, AHS Spirit Team had a score of 92.5 and defeated SkyView Academy, who scored 91.22.

“When we go in to perform a 2-minute routine, it’s very stressful because if one person messes up, that’s the entire dance and it’s all over. You have to practice performing to be able to handle your anxiety,” Lipsey said.

Madison Miller, the head coach of the AHS Spirit Team, had the girls write down one goal a day. She spent relentless hours pushing the girls to achieve their ambitions.

“The girls, overall, said at the beginning of the year [that] they wanted respect from their school and they wanted respect from anyone that watches them,” Miller said. “I said ‘you deserve that,’ so I held them accountable, and the fact that I said ‘this is what you wanted, so we need to stay on track. This was your goal, and what are we gonna do as a team to make your goal happier and happen’?”

Lipsey was ecstatic to win the state championships during her senior year.

“I envisioned in my mind so many times this happening, but I never thought it would happen, and then it did happen, and it was an explosion of emotions. I was so happy and euphoric,” Lipsey said.

Miller was also thrilled and emotional about the win.

“To be the first [Aspen] team to ever win- that’s pretty amazing,” Miller said. “I immediately started crying, which you can ask the girls, they don’t see me cry often,” Miller said.