Resilience.
Going into the 2024-25 school year, that was the one-word challenge the Evanston High School Classics chose as their mantra, the word that would come to define their season as they began the training in defense of their state title.
Little did they they know, way back in August, just how fitting that word would become, when adversity would slowly begin to creep in — first in the form of a jump in class to 4A, then back in December, when the team was given their placement order for their routines: First out of the gate for Jazz Dance, fourth for Hip Hop.
Not exactly prime locations, to be sure. But the Classics, according to head coach Candice Spivey, more than embodied their challenge word, and performed like the defending champions they are, placing third in both Jazz Dance and Hip Hop in the ultra-competitive 4A classification.
“We knew going into it we were going to have our work cut out for us, just with the placements we were given,” Spivey said. “But really, there was nothing to be mad about at the end of the day. These girls — in a large category, in 4A — they really did hold their own. I think maybe had we been later in the hip hop division, we could have placed a little bit better. But our hip hop scores were at least 10 points higher than we’ve been the last couple of years, so the fact that we set the standard so high in the hip hop division with those scores, it truly says a lot about what our girls went out and did that day.”
Spivey went on to explain why placements are so important, especially with jazz dance, and why being first is such a tough draw.
“For jazz, it’s kind of twofold,” she said. “It’s never easy going first in general — you have to set the standard for the day. And with jazz that day, it was really hard to hear our music, so I think going from the cheer to being the very first in the dance category, you have to warm up the judges, and the judges don’t know what they’re going to see.”
Trained as a high school drill team judge in Utah — something she still does to this day — Spivey said one thing you realize straight away is that the first three or four routines are probably going to be scored lower, just as a matter of course. In a category as large as 10 schools you have to leave room for teams that are coming.
“You can always go lower, but if you score too high off the bat, you can’t necessarily go higher,” Spivey explained. “The girls knew coming out — the first of six in jazz and fourth of 10 in hip hop — that we were going to have to be near perfect if we wanted to be able to place this year. A lot of nerves, when you’re the first to go out.”
And that’s where resilience came in.
“Ironically, that really played into our year — not making excuses for ourselves, and we were going to have tough times but it’s what we’re going to do to overcome those tough times that will be the success of our season,” Spivey said. “Having that word in the back of our minds, the girls just embraced it.”
That’s not to say it was always easy.
“There was probably a two-week period there where our energy was down in practice, and you could kind of tell they felt defeated,” Spivey said. “But putting that word up and really going back to that word, and studying it some more, and saying that we wanted to be intentional, and, really, if I’m being honest, stop focusing on a state championship, it changed our mindset. We just wanted to go into state and be proud of what we put on the floor, and at the end of the day, have people talking about what Evanston brought to the floor. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Asked what the mood was like down on the floor as the team awaited the final announcements from the judges, Spivey said the team was cautiously optimistic; they knew they had left it all on the floor. When the results were announced, it was a bittersweet moment.
“You know, at the awards ceremony, you could kind of feel a sense of sadness,” she said. “But when I looked at my team — when we were taking pictures and stuff — I said ‘You have everything to be proud of; every single thing you did today you can be proud of. We left it all out on the floor.’ And it truly was like the most incredible thing, because it wasn’t tears of sadness — it was the happiness of ‘Look what we achieved, look what we’ve done and this is super-great.’”
This year’s State Spirit competition was extra-special for Spivey, as she was also honored as the WHSAA 4A Coach of the Year.
“It’s a validation of your vision and your belief and the direction that you’ve tried to take your team, but it’s hard to take credit for that because I have a vision and a belief that it’s the people around you that make you better and push you to achieve your goals and it’s truly what this has been,” she said. “It’s not just me, it’s a team of girls, it’s an incredible group of parents, it’s an assistant coach in Lexi Frongner that believes in your vision, as well, and goes along with the crazy ideas. My family sacrifices a lot for me to be able to do this coaching gig, and they truly are my greatest supporters. Without surrounding yourself with incredible people you can’t be incredible yourself. I truly attribute it to the people that I’m surrounded by. It was a very, very sweet feeling and to see the excitement on the girls’ faces, and to see the excitement on my daughter’s face and to hear how proud they are, it feels good.”
As the girls boarded the bus home, Spivey said only one girl opted not to ride back with the team, as she was leaving on vacation with her family. With an unforeseen detour, the ride home ended up taking about seven hours — it’s seven hours she wouldn’t trade for anything.
“So it ended up being a seven-hour bus ride home, but I mean the girls were laughing and there were conversations, and they were playing games together,” she said. “You wouldn’t have known that there was that little sense of defeat. It truly was like good energy, and the girls were proud of what they did, and our crowd was amazing when we walked back to our dressing room. They were all there cheering for us, giving us hugs, congratulating us and other teams sitting there saying ‘We can’t wait to see what you come back with next year.’”
Next year’s team will look decidedly different — gone will be the seven seniors who make up the core group of this team, and have never not known success as a member of the EHS Classics. Spivey said Addie Asay, Aspyn Higdon, Cambree Young, Hannah Liechty, Kya Coles, Lucie Rex and Rebecca Davis are, “seriously, the most incredible group of seniors I’ve had the privilege to work with.”
“They wanted our team to feel like a family through and through, and just to have that camaraderie amongst them, and they truly set the tone for this year,” Spivey said. “I’m super-grateful for everything they’ve done for their underclassmen, to make them feel like part of a state championship team and like they matter, even though they haven’t been on the teams previously…we still have a long month ahead of us before our season’s over, and they’ve got smiles on their faces and they’re having fun, they’re still creating that fun atmosphere for all of these underclassmen and it’s hard to imagine them not being there next year.”
