The dance competition season is heating up, and 10 Mid-Prairie and Lone Tree dancers kicked it off with Division I ratings at the state solo competition in Newton last week.

The competition features 10 classes of schools, growing by enrollment. Lone Tree participates in the Class I competition and Mid-Prairie in Class IV. There was a new scoring system this year, with dancers being scored on a 100-point scale compared to a 70-point scale before. Division I medals are given to those scoring 75 or higher and the top 10 in each of the 10 classes earns a trophy.

The Lone Tree dance team brought five members to the competition — Ana Smith, Kelsi Kruse, Katelyn Maldonado, Alyssa Knock and Jaden Doehrmann. Four of those, Doehrmann, Smith, Knock and Kruse earned Division I honors.

The Lone Tree girls also brought home two individual trophies with Alyssa Knock earning ninth place in Class I and Ana Smith earning 10th in Class I.

Lone Tree dance coach Elly Huston said that it was the first time in school history that four soloists achieved a Division I ranking.

“My co-coach, Natalie McNutt, and I are extremely proud of these athletes,” Huston said. “They have put in so much extra work on top of their team commitments, and are terrific representatives of our community, school, and program.”

The Lone Tree girls had two seniors, Kruse and Smith.

“They have both grown so much in their high school careers, and we are looking forward to the rest of their senior seasons,” Huston said.

The Lone Tree girls are coached by Huston, a fourth-grade teacher at Lone Tree, and Natalie McNutt.

The Mid-Prairie girls entered the maximum number of soloists, six, and came away with six Division I rankings for their dancers. It was the first time in school history the full slate earned Division I rankings.

Mid-Prairie dance team members that earned Division I ratings included Grace Mattes, Skyler Schneider, Sidney Davis, Emily Schlabach, Nasya Leaton and Reaghan Aggson.

The Mid-Prairie girls are coached by Ashley Streb.

The Lone Tree dance team also danced at the Xavier Dance Jam on Nov. 9, working to fine tune their routines for the state dance competition at the start of December.

At the team competition on Dec. 5-6 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, schools dance in a number of categories.

This year, Mid-Prairie is slated to dance in Class III Jazz, Class VIII Pom, and Class V Hip Hop. The Lone Tree dance team will go in Class I Jazz, Class III Pom and Class I Lyrical. The Highland Dance Team will compete in the Class IV Pom category.