Astoria High School’s Pizazz dance team is chasing another state title.

After winning a state title last year and having its banner raised in The Brickhouse, Pizazz started off the new season with another strong performance. The girls traveled to Tigard for a Feb. 15 competition, where they competed in the 1A-5A Jazz and 1A-5A HipHop divisions.

Pizazz brought home a first-place finish in the Hip-Hop category with a score of 80.39. The Astoria girls beat out the other five teams in their division to claim the win and clinch a spot in the Oregon School Activities Association state championships in March. Pizazz is the defending state champion in the Hip-Hop Division.

Pizazz also won a second-place citation in the Jazz category, with a score of 75.56.

Head coach Emily Madsen and assistant Maia Mahoney said in a statement they were happy with how the girls started off the season and are looking forward to additional performances.

“We have two routines that we started in January and are still works in progress,” they said. “We are excited to get feedback from the judges to keep building our routines, growing as a team and individual dancers and improving our scores before state.”

The 2025 team is led by seven seniors, and Pizazz saw three of them named to the 2025 All-State Team in December. Dylan Candela, Emma Humphries and Bella Poe will make up three of the seven spots on the 2025 team. No other school has more than one representative.

The team plans to perform its two state routines at the Astoria basketball game on Feb. 25.