Last Sunday Longwood beat UNC-Asheville 85-59 in the Big South tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Lancers now have 3 straight 20+ win seasons and made the NCAA tourney for the 2nd time in the past 3 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Longwood Blue Heat dancer Caroline Gyory about her team’s storybook season.
You are from Richmond, VA: what made you choose Longwood? I chose Longwood because I fell in love with Farmville and its small-town/school vibe. I am a future teacher and Longwood has one of the best education programs too: I love it here and could not imagine going anywhere else!
You are majoring in elementary education: why did you choose that subject? I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little kid. I am so lucky to go to a school with such a great education program!
You are a senior: what is the post-graduation plan? After graduation I plan on teaching back home near Richmond!
How long have you been dancing for, and what is the best part of being on the dance team? I have been dancing for 18 years (since I was 3 years old)! I was a competitive dancer for a while and have done tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, hip-hop, modern, contemporary, lyrical, and musical theatre. When I decided to come to Longwood, one of the first things I did was look up their dance team. I love being on the team because I can continue my passion for dance while also cheering on the Lancers!
You made the Dean’s List in the past: how do you balance your work in the classroom with your work on the dance team? Being the captain of a college dance team, on the executive board of a sorority, student teaching, and taking classes all at the same time is hard work, but it all comes down to time management. I have learned to get all of my homework assignments done before dance practice (which is from 8-10PM on Mondays/Tuesdays/Thursdays and before games on Wednesdays/Saturdays. I try to get all of my schoolwork done on the weekdays before practice and I usually use the weekends to work on dance choreography. Since we do not have a coach, I am constantly in correspondence with my teammates/others.
Your basketball team started this season 12-1 and then lost 10 of its next 12: what the heck happened, and how did they turn things around over the past 4 weeks? These past 4 weeks have been so exciting as we have watched the basketball team have a major comeback! Since we are on the sideline at every home game, it has been amazing seeing the team’s bond throughout the season grow stronger as they headed toward the end of the season. I believe they were able to turn their season around by becoming closer with one another and growing their friendships: you can see how much they support/care about each other both on and off the court.
In the 2023 Big South tourney title game you had a win over UNC-Asheville: how excited was everyone after the final buzzer, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? I was SO excited!!! My teammates and I immediately ran around and hugged each other. After watching every home game and seeing how the team has changed over the season, I was incredibly excited for them because we had been there for them at every home game with them.
How does your school decide who gets to go to the NCAA tourney, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? We are not sure how the school with handle who goes to the tournament. In 2022 the dance team was not allowed to go to March Madness but the cheer team was. This year we are hoping they allow Blue Heat to go and support the Lancer men…since that is what we are there for at every other home game! We would love more than anything to go to March Madness to support the men’s basketball team, and there are no NCAA rules against dance teams being in attendance, so it will all come down to our athletic department.
Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for the NCAA tourney? If we are able to go to the NCAA tournament then we will definitely learn some super-fun new dances/cheers to support our Lancers!
Any predictions for next week? Nope: just hoping for the best!