You see them at assemblies. You see them in their uniforms around school. You see them at sports events. But who exactly are the Arapahoe Toms? 

Toms history:

The Toms have represented Arapahoe High School since 1964. Each year the dance team competes at 6 in-state competitions, as well as a national competition in Florida. Toms is a year-round sport with tryouts in April, and their season ends in February the following year. At most they dance three hours after school year round. 

Toms:

The Toms practice up to 6 days a week for an extended amount of time. On top of all the practicing, they have to take 16 extra hours of dance classes a month and compete at 6 competitions in a span of 3 months. “With school on top of it all, it is overwhelming, yet so rewarding,” said Alli Zier, Sophomore Varsity Toms. Tryouts are in the first full week of April, and they are usually four days long. Depending on their upcoming competition, they will spend about half of the practice on their Pom routine and the other half on jazz.

Competitions:

Every year the Toms start by competing at three local competitions: USA, League and UDA. League is one of the most important competitions for the Toms since it sets the tone for the CHSAA state competition in December. There are six competitions throughout the year: USA, League, UDA, the Winter Challenge, State, and Nationals. They perform jazz and a pom routine at USA, UDA, and Nationals, and they only perform their pom routine at League, Winter Challenge, and State. Alongside the competitions, the Toms perform an average of forty times at various assemblies and games. Every year the Varsity Toms go to compete in Nationals in Orlando, Florida. This year our Toms did fantastic in state, getting fifthteenth out of roughly twenty five teams. At nationals, the Pom routine made it to semi finals and were only 0.2 points from finals right behind Thunderridge.