HARD WORK PAYS OFF FOR STARLET TWIRLERS AT NATIONALS
The many repetitions of routines over the hot summer days brought sweet
rewards to the four Starlet Twirlers who competed last week at NBTA's
National Baton Twirling Championships at Notre Dame University. Over 2000
twirlers arrived Sunday from all 50 states, Canada, France, Belgium, and St.
Thomas. The girls won so many awards that each time someone called from
Oglethorpe to find out how they did, we had to refer to our cheat sheet of
awards to remember them all! This was the most Top 10 finishes ever for a
Starlet group of individual competitors. Only the Top 10 girls in each
division and event are given awards. Most of the divisions had around 30-35
girls competing for the top 10 places.
Caitlyn Kenney entered 6 events and placed Top 10 in all of them! She
placed 10th out of 38 in Solo, 6th in Strut out of 28, 9th out of 20 in
Showtwirl, 5th out of 36 in 2 Baton, and 4th out of 28 in Flag Baton!!
Thursday evening we found out the Pageant results for all of our girls'
Tuesday's Miss Majorette of America contest. For each twirler, three events
are totaled together for the Top 10 overall places. The 3 events are
Modeling with Interview, Solo, and Strut. During the Pageant results show,
the Top 10 in each of those 3 events are also called out and given awards
before the Overall 10 are announced and applauded.
Caitlyn won 3rd in Model with Interview, 3rd in Strut, and 7th in
Solo. She received gold medals for each of those plus a plaque. She won 3rd
place overall in the Beginner Juvenile Miss Majorette of America contest out
of 28 twirlers!
Jolie Meyen won 8th out of 19 in Intermediate Strut, 5th in Showtwirl, 3rd
in 2 Baton, and 6th in Flag Baton. In her Beginner Pre-teen Miss Majorette
of America contest Jolie won 1st place in the Model with Interview which is
the best of the best!! She won 6th in Strut, and 17th in Solo. She placed
10th out of 33 twirlers in her Miss Majorette of America Pageant!! She won
gold medals for her Top 10 finishes and a plaque for her 1st place.
Shelby Drake won 3rd in her Strut, 8th in her Flag baton, placed 17th out
of 41 in her first ever Showtwirl, and was given 1st place in her 2 Baton
division!! Shelby was in the Beginner Junior Miss Majorette of America
Pageant. She placed 14th in Model with Interview, 12th in Strut, and won 7th
place in her Solo. She placed 8th in the Top 10 overall out of 35
twirlers!! She won gold medals for all of her Top 10 finishes!
Kimberlee Thaxton placed 15th in her Advanced Strut out of 41, 11th in
her Inter. Solo out of 48, 3rd in her Showtwirl out of 24 and she won her 2
Baton division and got 1st out of 27 twirlers!! Kimberlee was entered in the
Intermediate Sr. Miss Majorette of America Pageant. She placed 27th in
Model with Interview, won 8th in Strut, and won 1st place for her Solo
portion of the pageant!!! She was announced as 6th place overall in the Top
10 out of 30 twirlers! Kimberlee won gold medals for her Top 10 finishes and
plaques for her 1st places!
It is amazing that all of these young ladies placed Top 10 in their Miss
Majorette Pageants! It is also amazing that all but one have never done a
Flag Baton, Showtwirl, or 2 Baton routine before Nationals. They were
undoubtedly up against girls from other parts of the country where Flag and
2 Baton are offered more often than in our Georgia contests. That makes
their Top 10 wins even more outstanding!!
Many thanks go to the parents of these outstanding athletes for making the
trip and supporting all of the twirlers throughout the long week. They met
many twirlers from around the USA and France. The girls were good
competitors all week. All of them enjoyed hearing "and from the state of
Georgia!...." as the announcer announced their wins many times during the
awards show. It made them all very proud and there were many great memories
made.
The Starlets, their directors, and their parents would
like to thank the
many sponsors and friends who made this trip possible! Please read their
names knowing that they fully support our local youth and appreciate their
talents. We ask you to remember them and support them! Our Starlet Sponsors
are: Gabriel's Towing and Recovery, OCHS Band Boosters, Dr. James Dillard,
Athens Orthopedic Clinic, Oconee State Bank, Cook Motor Co., Classic City
Pools, Mixon Used Cars, Oglethorpe County Farm Bureau, Phil Hughes Honda,
Mulberry Farms, Four Star Meats, Zaxby's, Sandy Cross Grocery, Jesse L.
Robinson DMD, Bell's Food Market, Crystal Farms, Inc., Ed & Marie Meyen, The
Commercial Bank, Tina Mathews, C.C Brooks, Day Farm, Inc., Charles Fleming
Grading, Oglethorpe Animal Clinic, Hair Designers, Hammer Head Sales, Hughes
Bookkeeping, Hicks Deer Processing, 78 Auto and Truck Supply, Skrip Shoppe
Pharmacy, Pinnacle Bank, Patton Mechanical, S&S Graphic Designs, Britt
Brooks Construction Co., Park Avenue Antiques, HB & Sons Auto Flatteners,
Paul's BBQ, Smith Bros. Memorials, Randall Hicks, Guy Lance Realty, Drake
Gas Co., First Financial of Elberton, Lord & Stephens Funeral Home, The
Echo, Brenda Norman and Senator Mickey Channell.
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