In their first competition of the season at Edwardsville, the Jacksonville J’ettes did not place as high as they had hoped for due to complications with penalties and illegal stunts.  However, the tables turned this past weekend, January 16, when the girls competed at their second competition in Clinton.  Receiving two first place titles in both of their competition teams, the J’ettes were able to redeem themselves from the prior competition.

The J’ettes arrived at Clinton High School around 8:00 am Saturday morning to prepare and ready themselves for their first routine which took the floor at 11:45.  The J’ettes swept away the competition with their clean kick routine.  During practice time, the J’ettes were able to make new changes to the routine that enhanced the difficulty and fixed areas of sloppiness.  By using these new changes to their advantage, the J’ettes were able to bounce from the second place that they received at Edwardsville to first place at Clinton.  The J’ettes will be competing this routine at IDTA State on February 13 in Springfield.  

 With their second routine, hip hop, the girls won over both the judges and the audience.  At Edwardsville, the J’ettes received a disappointing seventh place score out of seven teams due to an illegal stunt that cost them a three-point deduction in their overall score.  By removing this stunt from the routine, the girls were more victorious at Clinton.  They were awarded first place in this routine; however, their score was just under the required score to qualify for state.  
So far the J’ettes have only qualified in their kick routine.  At their next competition in Highland, the girls will try once again to qualify their hip hop routine as well as their new pom routine.  IDTA State will be held in Springfield this year at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center on Saturday, February 13.