Twirlers will compete at UIL Solo and Ensemble on November 9 at Bullard High School. Their ratings will determine if the twirlers qualify for State UIL in May. 

     “I feel confident that each twirler will perform [at UIL] to their best ability,” Director Abigail Banko said. “I tell the girls to smile, have fun, and do their best.”

     Each twirler will perform a solo that they have been working on since June. Two groups of twirlers will perform a one-baton dance twirl routine to “Runaway Baby.”

     “Since the beginning of summer, we have been working on our solos to learn and perfect them,” senior Elanna Perkins said. “We take our solos and ensembles to competitions so we can get a good idea of what performing in front of an audience feels.”

     The UIL contest has a scoring system with division ratings from one to five with one being the highest and advancement to State UIL. State UIL will be held in May.

     “I’m super excited for this upcoming UIL contest to possibly qualify for state,” senior Kayleigh Tew said. “It’s also a final goodbye to my senior twirling year because it’s at the very end of football season.”

     The twirlers perform at halftime during football games, but UIL gives the twirlers a chance to have a solo performance and advance based on their own skills.

     “I’m so excited for the upcoming competitions because we have mostly done performances under the Friday night lights,” Perkins said. “Even though I love performing Friday nights, I can’t help but be filled with pride whenever I get to perform something by myself in front of [judges] and it goes well.”

     The senior twirlers, Perkins, Tew, and Trinity Boaz will perform at the senior pep rally on October 21 where they will each have a solo section in the routine. 

     “This performance allows time to feature the seniors and display our individual skills while the others watch,” Boaz said. “With other performances, not many individual solo sections are passed out because we like to perform as a whole.”