Figure Skating and Baton Twirling News

Congratulations to Cindy Hurley of New Jersey on her recent marriage 7/23/07.

Barbara & Bill Biro celebrated their 50th anniversary! Congratulations

Most people would think that since Meredith Winnefeld of Colorado attends the Denver School of the Arts where there are no sports teams she would have to miss out on that great twirling experience of being a feature twirler with a marching band....but Meredith did not let it stop her. The 8th grade dance major did some research and found out that the Denver school district has a Citywide marching band. Meredith auditioned and was awarded the feature twirler position with this growing band. She has been enjoying parades and halftime performances so far this fall. Meredith is the reigning Twirlmania Jr Elite strut off champion and loves just loves to perform.

Ryan Brazil was Borm Friday, August 10th at 4:43am to Mimi and Paul Brazil and brother Peyton. He was 8.3 lbs 20.5 inches long (same as Peyton)

Congratulations to Olivia Piasecki of Broadview Heights, IL who was crowned Teen Majorette Queen 2008 at DMA Nationals last month. Olivia won both the solo and strut portion of the competition, and received a 2nd place in talent for her beautiful flute performance. Olivia also won the Senior Advanced National Twirl-Off - quite a thrill and honor!! Coach Patti Jankowski of Michigan, is so proud of Olivia and would also like to thank fellow coaches Derek Brooks and Leann Lyzen for all of their support and assistance. Great Job Olivia!

Congratulations to Tristalyn Bixler Kint for winning elite's DMA's Majorette Queen of America 2008. Also congratulations to Kaley Leas crowned Miniture Majorette Princess of America. Both girls are members of Wanda's Cadettes Baton Studio in PA and are taught by Wanda Salisbury and Melissa Tucker.

Of significant importance in the 2007 Miss Colorados Outstanding Teen Pageant, Rachel Kleinhans, of Colorado Springs, CO, was awarded the very first Miss Colorados Outstanding Teen Community Service Award for her fundraising initiative. Realizing the importance of the needs of the children, Rachel Kleinhans raised, on her own, over $340.00 for the Childrens Miracle Network. The Miss America service organization is the proud sponsor the Children Miracle Network. Additionally, Miss Kleinhans was awarded Pageantry Magazines Spirit Award, recognizing her for excellence in Sportsmanship, Friendship and Integrity. Way to go Rachel! What a fine example you set for the Miss America organization, competitors and the community. Youre on the right track, young lady! Wishing you every success in the 2008 Miss Colorado Pageant!!

Welcome to Tanner Bunish, son of Jennifer (Nero) and Scott Bunish who was born 6/16/07. Brooklyn and Skylar are excited to have a baby brother.

Amy, Morgan and Clark Jones are settled in their new home in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. and will be a wonderful addition to twirling in California as they were in Orlando, Florida.

Teammates Shelby Anderson and Sarah Zoll recently returned from the NBTA Baton Twirling nationals as World Open Solo Champions! NBTA Nationals is held at Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN during the third week of July. Sarah won the Advanced Tiny Tot World Open Solo. Shelby won the Novice 12 year old World Open Solo competing against more than 40 girls. "They worked hard all season and I am so proud of them" says Coach Christine Zoll, who also coaches the Totally Twirlin baton team from Ladies Total Fitness in Bel Air where both girls twirl and dance. Sarah placed 1st runner up in the Advanced Tiny Tot World Open Strut, Beginner Tiny Tot World Open 2 Baton, and 3rd runner up for Miss Majorette of America. Shelby placed 7th in Novice World Open 2 Baton and 9th in Open Solo Dance. Sarah is a student at Emmorton Elementary in Bel Air, and Shelby is an honors student at Edgewood MS in Edgewood.

Twirl-Ms Team Jazz

2007 Beginner Juvenile National Dance Twirl Champions.

They have won the first dance twirl championship for Twirl-Ms, a baton twirling group based out of Walled Lake. The group has been in existence since 1999. All 26 students competed in team and individual events at the National Baton Contest held at the University of Notre Dame July 17-21. Two students competed at the TU International Contest in Canton, Ohio the weekend prior. In addition to winning a National Beginner Dance Twirl Championship, the group netted 7 national titles, 12 regional titles, an NBTA national pageant finalist, two TU International pageant finalists, 52 top 10 awards, and two top 10 team finishes during its summer competitions. The group is under the Direction of Rhonda Muscaro, with assistants Rachel Gatny, Holly Minoletti, and Dori Ranck. The students are: (L to R front row): Lizzie Ranck, Ellie Perigo, Nicole Rapacki, Madison Stachowiak, Nicole Dowdell, Casey Dunigan, Carolyn Gregory, Erika Ranck. (L to R middle row): Madisen Fletcher, Meagan Dullack, Rosie Dodd, Amy Vailliencourt, Moriah Muscaro, Abby Oates, Meghan Shaffer, Sami Hays, Liz Dowdell. (L to R back row): Nicole Harris, Abbie Perigo, Hailey Henehan, Courtney Stachowiak, Mackensy Lakian, Lauren Robinson, Abby Muench, Kelly Burkhard, and Madison Adams.

Photo by Gracon Portrait Studios, Milford, MI

2007 Miss America's Outstanding Teen Pageant Wednesday Preliminary Winner

Miss Illinois' Outstanding Teen Merrie Beth Cox

Miss Illinois' Outstanding Teen Merrie Beth Cox was named Wednesday night's preliminary talent winner at the Linda Chapin Theater in the Orange County Convention Center during the second night of competition.

MerrieBetn Cox, Miss Illinois Outstanding Teen, did a great job representing the baton world at the recent Miss America Outstanding Teen Pageant in Orlando. After performing a perfect one, two and three baton routine, MerrieBeth won the preliminary talent award and also won the evening gown competition. She was the only contestant to win two preliminary events and received a scholarship for each of them. Merriebeth who has twirled the baton since the age of 4 said her training in baton really paid off at the pageant!

Being the Golden Girl at the University of Iowa is a dream come true for Chelsea Russell. Her first game was an away game in Chicago at Soldier Field. The majority of the historic stadium was filled with Iowa fans. Leading the Hawkeye Marching Band on to the field during the Pre-game Show was one of the most exciting moments of Chelsea's twirling career.

The next weekend was the first home game at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. The band practiced during the day and then performed to a standing room only crowd in the Rec Center on campus an hour before the game against Syracuse. After marching through the campus to the stadium, the band then entered Kinnick stadium to the roar of over 70,000 crazed Hawkeye football fans. It was breathtaking! Since it was a night game, Chelsea twirled 3 fire batons during her performance as well as performing many lifts and stunts with the Drum Major, Chet Aliga. Tom Arnold, the comedian/actor, attended the game and told Chelsea and Chet their performance was awesome. Chelsea is thrilled she chose a college with so much spirit and support and is looking forward to all of the upcoming games.

Carnation City Twirlers of Alliance, Ohio under the direction of Patty Noll has been winning alot of awards at local parades & on July 15 the group won 1st place parade corps at the Twirling Unlimited International Compitition in Canton, Ohio at the Civic Center then on August 18th the Twirlers won the queens award & a nice plaque for their float in the Carnation Festival Grand Parade with over a hundred units in the parade. We did a luau theme. Some of the mothers put the float together. The group was dressed in Hawaiian wear. Also we are looking for batons & equipment, alot of the girls in the group can't afford to buy new batons. E-mail [email protected] if you would like to donate to the group. Thank you very much, Patty

ICAP Congratulates AM-CCs Feature Twirler, the Island Girl
ICAP, Island Corp Auxiliary Performers, the colorguard and baton twirling Rec Sports club at Texas AM University-Corpus Christi, in Corpus Christi, Texas would like to tell you about something extraordinary that has happened over this past July! TAMU-CC's very own "Island Girl", Jennifer Kotzur, has had the opportunity to represent our great Island University and the Lone Star State at two very prestigious events; the 2007 United States Twirling Association National Twirling Championships and the 2007 American Twirling Federation National Twirling Championships! At the USTA Nationals, held in Rochester, MN, July 9th- 16th, Jennifer placed 6th (out of 56 contestants) in the Sr. Grand National Strut Division, winning a $50 Savings Bond, 2nd in FOF Strut, 3rd in Sr. National Dance Twirl, 4th in Sr. Presentation, 5th in National Solo, 6th in National 2-Baton and 3-Baton and 12th in National Open Freestyle! Saturday, July 21, 2007, Jennifer competed in the ATF National Championships in Austin, Texas. We are very pleased to announce to you that our "Island Girl" is the 2007 Sr. National 2-Baton, Presentation, and Parade Strut National Champion!!! At this competition, she also placed 2nd in Sr. Dance Twirl and Strut, 4th in Sr. National Solo, and 5th in the Miss ATF of Baton Pageant!
Go Islanders! Remember, "Reach for the Stars and Achieve!"

West Chester University Feature Twirlers Take the World By Storm.
Starting in January after football season ended, Tammy Russell, Holly Russell and Lauire Harvey set out with their coach Elaine Russell with a goal to reach the top in the collegiate team divisions. Starting out at the Intercollegiate Championships in Indianapolis, the team captured three GOLD medals in dance twirl, half time and overall. Then off to Disney World for the Twirl Mania Collegiate Classic where the #1 Collegiate Champions are selectedand WCU captured the Collegiate Classic in a stunning performance in Epcot. To complete a wonderful, successful and exciting year the team won the collegiate dance twirl division at Notre Dame Collegiate team championships. It has been an honor to have captured these championships and proved to West Chester University and other colleges around that college twirling is important on the field and off the field. College twirlers are the best of the best and represent their schools with pride!

The Fire of the Carolinas selects its Feature Twirler!
Elon University, located in Elon, North Carolina, has selected its new Feature Twirler! Nicole Hebert, 18, won the Feature Twirler position for the "Fire of the Carolinas" marching band in a tryout in April. The Fire of the Carolinas is a high-energy contemporary marching ensemble that has a number of performances throughout the year including performances at all of Elon's home football games. Nicole is a member of the Stars and Stripes Twirling Corp under the direction of Elizabeth Boley of Powell Dance Academy, where she also takes ballet, lyrical, jazz, and modern dance and is a member of the competitive dance company. Nicole is graduating from Village Academy, located in Powell,

Twirl Mania Newsletter August/September 2007