Valley Stream North runners steal show with pep rally dance

After Valley Stream North High School’s cheerleaders flipped through the air and the Rangerettes executed synchronized kicks and splits at Thursday’s homecoming pep rally, the crowd may have thought that the choreographed dance performances were over for the night.

They were wrong.

The girls cross country track team took the floor wearing matching tie-dye shirts and socks, along with sunglasses. The 11 members of the team strutted across the basketball court to Pitt Bull’s “Pause,” stopping on certain beats to strike a pose, shake and do a sort-of-backbend-body-roll.

Senior Allison McConville said part of the motivation to do the dance routine was that it’s not what most people would expect from her team.

“Nobody likes cross country,” McConville, 17, of Valley Stream, joked. “We don’t even like cross country and we do it. Who thinks it’s fun?”

McConville said some of the younger members of the team were nervous about dancing in front of their schoolmates, which filled the stands for the one-hour pep rally, but she and fellow senior Yasmine Dubissette advised them to just have fun.

“Even if you mess up, at least you’re having fun, and everybody will see that,” Dubissette, 16, of Elmont, said.

McConville was also on the receiving end of a homecoming surprise when she found out that she was in the running to become homecoming queen. She is up against fellow nominees Jenna Abbruzino, Chelsea Alexander-Taylor, Krista O’Leary and Alyssa Scialabba. The homecoming king nominees are Brian Baumann, Aaron Bonitto, Ritwik Bhatia, Justin Leone and Jomar Pascal. The winners will be announced at Friday night’s homecoming dance.

“I was expecting the other girls,” she said. “I knew all of them would be in it, but I never expected myself.”