Sigourney students perform at Girl's State Tournament

            A quartet consisting of Sigourney High School upperclassmen Khloe Snakenberg, Abbey Danowsky, Sarina Gretter and Rylie Shettler had the honor of performing the National Anthem as crowds in Wells Fargo Arena paid their respects to our country before the first 1A girl’s basketball game at the Girl’s State Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

            “It was a good experience,” Gretter said. “I felt very patriotic and it felt appreciated.”

            Gretter, a senior at Sigourney High, got the ball rolling in January by inquiring about singing the National Anthem with the school athletic director, Lee Crawford. He contacted Lisa Brinkmeyer with the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, who instructed them to submit a video. According to Gretter, she has attended state tournament games in the past and sang the National Anthem at most of Sigourney’s volleyball and basketball games. She submitted a video and was well received, but was requested to have a group rather than perform as a soloist.

            The quartet sent in another video soon afterwards of them singing at a game and were selected to perform together. To prepare, they sang at a wrestling meet and have were already well familiar with each other after performing together numerous times over the past 3 years. According to Gretter, the girls’ schedules were all busy and practice was limited, but they still were able to pull off a great performance.

            “We all know each other’s voices and how we sound together, so we know how to blend together,” Gretter said.

            When the big day came, the girls drove down to Des Moines and sang in front of the crowds gathered to watch Central Decatur and Cascade, Western Dubuque go head to head in the first round of the tournament. Family members traveled to watch the girls sing and recorded them to broadcast on social media. After the game, the girls celebrated with Cheesecake Factory and drove back home.

            “I felt more confident with everyone with me,” Snakenberg said. “It was really cool to experience this with people I’ve sang with so many times before.”

            “The four girls that went have been the backbone of our Music and drama department over the past three years,” Crawford said. “I felt they needed to be recognized for their talents and singing at the State Tourney would be a great experience for them.”