Sparta resident wins Irish dance championship

PHILADELPHIA — Sparta resident Mary Wick won top prize at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Irish Dance Championships in Philadelphia over Thanksgiving weekend. This competition, called an Oireachtas (ah-rock-tus), serves as the qualifying round for the World Irish Dance Championships which will be in Glasgow, Scotland in late March 2018. Mary competed against 117 championship-level dancers from the Mid-Atlantic region performing three dances for a panel of five judges, and earned a 1st place from all five judges. One of Mary’s teachers, Karen Hegarty-Wright, won the same prize in 1993. Mary is a member of the Wick-Hegarty school which offers classes in Denville, Sparta and beginning in December in Ledgewood. For more information, visit Wick-Hegarty.com