High school twirlers from South County are taking national — and even international — twirling competitions by storm. From July 15-18, the Mehlville Majorettes and the Oakville Tiger Twirlers performed routines at the National Baton Twirling Championships in South Bend, Indiana, and each team took home a national title.
The Mehlville Majorettes added to their national accolades with the 2025 High School Dance Twirl title, while the Oakville Tiger Twirlers scored their first national title in the High School Halftime category. According to Emily Hawkins, who coaches the teams, there are only two high school titles; this year, against twirling teams from across the country, South County took home both.
“The students were thrilled,” Hawkins said. “The students train together, so they were so happy to split the high school titles, each winning one.”
The teams have been prepping for the competition season since February, as soon as basketball season was over. The road to nationals started in March, with the state competition; Midwest regionals took place in June.
Throughout the summer, the twirlers trained tirelessly Tuesdays through Thursdays from 6:30 – 11 a.m. Hawkins says they pushed themselves to build the endurance and stamina required for the sport.
“As they say, the work is worth it!” Hawkins said.
The Mehlville Majorettes team is Amila Filipovic, Lilly Burch, Aurora Hawkins and Nora Howard. The Oakville Tiger Twirlers are Ava Winchester, Macie O’Shaughnessy, Natalia Lucca, Chloe Ruth, Annslee Norris, Maddie Polzin, Aubrey Ulrich and Abbey Schmidt.
“My studio, Saint Louis Performance Academy, is a feeder for these high school twirling programs, so I have been blessed to know some of these young athletes since they were five years old,” Hawkins said. “It is amazing to see it all come together and watch them accomplish some amazing things as a team.”
Not only did these South County athletes grace the competition platform at nationals, but several of them joined Hawkins for the IBTF World Baton Twirling Championships in Turin, Italy, in early August. This was organized through their club team at Saint Louis Performance Academy, where Hawkins serves as the full-time director, artistic director and coach.
According to Hawkins, the club team won gold for one of their routines, and they received three additional silver medals — medaling in all of their routines representing Team USA. Hawkins calls the competition “the Olympics for baton twirling” as it is the highest level of competition for those in the sport. St. Louis sent 31 twirlers to be part of Team USA.
“I’m beyond proud of the high school twirling programs in St. Louis,” Hawkins said. “St. Louis is so lucky to have such great twirlers entertaining them at sporting events. I am so appreciative to all the schools that I get to work with.”
Additionally, Mehlville High School alumnus Miles King qualified as a soloist and earned a silver medal in the Nations Cup competition.
