Local baton twirling athletes and teams got everything from bronze to gold medals and an assistant coach was named Rookie Coach of the Year during the 2019 Alberta Baton Twirling Championships, held May 3-5 at the Ralph Klein Centre.
Gold medals went to Emma Petten and Natasha Tarrant in level C juvenile solo, Natasha Tarrant and Alyssa Campbell in juvenile level C duet, as well as Cadence Witcher and Palin Lentz, also in juvenile level C duet.
Cadence Witcher also won gold in her juvenile level C 2 baton.
Silver medals went to Allison Tarrant, Zoe Boyd, Alyssa Campbell and Brianna Kilpatrick for their level C juvenile solo performance, Ryleigh Beemer and Zoey Beemer in juvenile level C duet, as well as Brianna Kilpatrick and Emma Petten in juvenile level C duet.
Cadence Witcher and Palin Lentz received diamond status in their level C juvenile solo and moved up a level as a result.
Ryleigh Beemer, Piper Lentz, Grace Petten, Avrylyn Finlay, Madison Cook, Leah Stockall, Emma Petten, Emily Smart and Sarah Scott all competed in several pre-events, receiving red, blue, white and green ribbons for their performances.
In addition, the local primary level C dance twirl team Ways to be Wicked won gold while the primary level C dance twirl team Better Together received bronze.
Olds assistant coach Tianna Tedford was named rookie coach of the year.
"We had a lot of our athletes achieve their personal best of the season; we were extremely proud of them," says Jenna Jemieff, owner of Inspire Dance Studio and Baton Club in Olds.
"Many of our athletes attended the TwirlMania Championships in Disney World in February so being on that type of competitive team really pushed them this year to excel quickly," she added.
"Coming back from that competition after being exposed to an elite level of twirling really motivated our girls to train even harder."
