AURORA – To celebrate the start of the fall sports and recreational activities season, the Colorado High School Activities Association is releasing its preseason poll ranking the top spirit dance programs to keep an eye on in the upcoming season. Below are the 10 spirit dance programs to keep an eye on in both the 5A and 4A classifications.

Dance in Spirit consists of the dance disciplines Hip Hop, Jazz, Poms and Gameday Dance. Gameday Dance is a new discipline added this season.

Please note that CHSAA will ONLY conduct a preseason coaches poll and will include all fall sports and activities. Throughout the season, CHSAA will release the Seedings Index as weekly rankings for those sports that have a Seedings Index (field hockey, flag football, soccer, boys soccer, softball and girls volleyball). These rankings will be released once enough games have been played to create rankings (around Week 3 or 4 for most sports).

Also receiving votes: Valor Christian, Fossil Ridge, Chaparral, Thunderridge, Northfield, Grandview, Legacy, Regis Jesuit, Bear Creek, Horizon, Arvada West, Boulder, Erie, Brighton, Fruita Monument, Castle View, Douglas County, Monarch, Centaurus.

Taking the top spot as the No. 1 5A spirit dance program to watch this season is Cherry Creek. At last year’s 5A Poms state championships, Cherry Creek finished second to Rock Canyon, the No. 2 5A spirit dance program to watch this season. Rock Canyon won the state title by just .825 points. Coming in at third and fourth are Cherokee Trail and Mountain Vista – the top two jazz programs last season. Mountain Vista ultimately won the state title by .975 points. Eaglecrest, last year’s hip hop state champion, rounds out the top five 5A programs. Ralston Valley and Legend, the No. 6 and No. 7 5A spirit dance programs to watch this season, were just 1.5 and 2.85 points behind Cherry Creek in last year’s 5A pom finals, respectively. Broomfield is tied with Legend at No. 7 and placed third in last year’s hip hop state championship finals. The runner-up team in last year’s hip hop state championship, Arapahoe, came in at No. 9 on the list. Ponderosa secured the final spot on the top 10 5A spirit dance programs to watch after reaching the 5A pom finals last season and placing sixth.

Also receiving votes: Green Mountain, Falcon, Timnath, Dakota Ridge, Northridge, Windsor, Eagle Valley.

Their reigning 4A Poms state champion Roosevelt was voted the No. 1 4A Spirit Dance program to watch in the state this upcoming season. The rest of the top four are almost perfectly in line with last year’s 4A Poms results. Wheat Ridge, the 2023 4A Poms runner-up, came in at No. 2, while Standley Lake and Holy Family swapped spots after Holy Family finished third and Standley Lake fourth in last year’s 4A Poms finals. Evergreen, the No. 5 4A program to watch, narrowly missed last year’s 4A Poms finals, finishing in sixth place. Meanwhile, the last remaining member of last year’s 4A Poms finals, Pueblo County, ranks No. 6 on the list of programs to watch this season. The No. 7 spirit dance program to watch this season, Mullen, is expected to make a splash after placing 17th in last year’s 4A Pom semifinals. Lewis-Palmer climbs into the top 10 at No. 8 after finishing just outside the top 10 in last year’s 4A Pom finals. Finally, Littleton and Silver Creek round out the list in a tie at No. 9. Littleton placed 15th in last year’s 4A Pom semifinals, while Silver Creek placed 18th in the hip hop semifinals.