San Diego County CA— The All-West Regional Baton Twirling Championships were held in Long Beach this past month, and our local North County twirling athletes excelled in their performances and won championships. Over 220 athletes from Arizona California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah competed in the prestigious regional baton twirling championships which is sanctioned by the NBTA (The National Baton Twirling Association). NBTA is the largest twirling organization in the world and sanctions many Southern California competitions, as well as state, regional and the national championships that are held at The University of Notre Dame in July. NBTA’s World Championships are held every three years in locations around the world… The USA Team consists of those twirling athletes that placed in the top 3 at the National Championships in a “World Qualifying” year in the Advanced Twirl, X-Strut, 2-Baton, Pairs, Rhythmic Twirl and/or Team categories. Before an athlete can move through the Novice, Beginner, Intermediate and Advance levels, they must win 5-8 1st place awards at NBTA sanctioned competitions. Each year thousands of twirlers from across the nation, and world, compete at the prestigious NBTA National Championships at Notre Dame University.

Our twirling athletes from North County represented their community with class and dignity and came home with several 1st places. Eight year old, Megan Krumheuer, from Oceanside, placed 1st in the All-West Regional 7-9 Beg. X-Strutting and 5th in All-West Beginner Regional Twirling Championships. Ryli Smith, twelve years old from Oceanside, placed 1st in the Beginner All-West Regional Twirl Championships and second in the Advanced X-Strut finals. Ryli has now moved into the Intermediate category. Faith Barrett, thirteen of San Marcos, placed 1st in the All-West Regional Intermediate Twirling and 2-baton twirling championships and placed 2nd in the Intermediate X-Strutting Championships. Ryli and Faith also won the Junior All-West Regional Beginner Pairs division. Kaycie Landis, a freshman Feature Twirler from San Diego State University, placed 4th in Advanced Regional X-Strut, 5th in Advanced Regional Twirl and 2nd in the All-West Regional College Miss Majorette Pageant. This qualified Kaycie for the Advanced Grand National Twirling Championships at Notre Dame this summer. In addition to Kaycie competing as a soloist, her SDSU Aztec team won the Collegiate Regional Half-Time Twirling Championships, as well as, the Advanced Dance-Twirl Team championships in Long Beach.
Earlier in the month, Ryli Smith and Faith Barrett both won a Twirl-Off at the Miss Shamrock competition. Ryli was the Beginner Twirl-Off Champion and Faith won the Intermediate level. Both girls qualified in the first round by winning first place in their division and then “twirled-off” against the other winners in their levels, scoring highest among all the ages, including the senior winners. It was a great win for these girls and it is exciting to see that their hard work is paying off.
All of the girls are members of Tide Baton Twirling of Oceanside. Tide Baton Twirling’s coach is Oceanside resident Catherine Watters. Catherine accepts girls of all ages and levels from San Diego and Orange Counties. Catherine was the Feature Twirler for The University of Washington Huskies from 2008-2013. She earned a 5-year athletic scholarship for her twirling and traveled the world competing and performing her twirling and dance skills. A two-time USA World Team member Catherine won a gold medal at the 2006 World Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands in Junior Women’s Pairs, and in 2012, she was a silver medalist in Neuchatel, Switzerland in Senior Women’s X-Strutting.

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Photos courtesy: North County Tide Twirlers
As a collegian Catherine was honored to perform with the Huskies in China, France, Italy, Switzerland and even on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and Cozumel. Catherine was also awarded the 2011 College Miss Majorette of America, the highest honor a collegiate twirling athlete can achieve. After College Catherine had the opportunity to perform halftime with the Seattle Seahawks. Catherine’s other accolades include when she was sixteen years old, she was selected to be one of eight baton twirlers from across the nation who was invited to perform with Lions Club International at The Festival de la Primavera in Trujillo and Lima, Peru. She served as a USA ambassador, performing her twirling routines for thousands in South America and raising funds to build hospitals throughout Peru. Catherine is an accomplished choreographer, coach and judge and travels all over the country to do this. She currently serves as an official staff member and contest director at the National Baton Twirling Association National Championships. She loves to promote her passion for baton twirling in Southern California. She is so proud to be the coach of Megan, Ryli, Faith and Kaycie and is excited for them to compete at the national championships at Notre Dame this summer. Catherine is also the coach/advisor for the San Diego State University Aztec Feature Twirlers.
The next competition coming up for the San Diego State University Feature Twirlers is the California State Team Championships, which will be held in Brea California on April 30th. The next competition for Ryli, Faith, Megan, Kaycie, new member Carla Leon and Tide Baton Twirling, is the Miss Majorette of California Twirling competition, to be held on May 1st, also in Brea. These girls are excited to represent North County and all of San Diego at the NBTA Team State and Miss Majorette of California competitions. For more information about NBTA, San Diego State University Twirlers, Tide Baton twirling and baton twirling in San Diego, please contact Catherine at watters.catherine@yahoo.com.
Catherine loves to give back and is in the business of building better communities through its children. She believes in giving kids healthy activities, something productive and exciting to do, and the opportunity to potentially earn college scholarships and travel the world through twirling.