Dedication, intense practices keep Hill’s baton twirling
By Chad Lorenz
Staff Reporter
When baton twirler Courtney Hill stood in
the Notre Dame field house before an audience
of 20,000, preparing to compete for the solo
world championship, she went numb.
“It’s eerie sometimes when all you can hear
is your breath and the baton,” the freshman
pre-medicine major said.
After 12 years of twirling experience, Hill
took the world championship trophy home to
San Antonio last summer.
The championships, held every July at Notre
Dame, consisted of five days of various twirl
ing competitions. Hill said.
She won sixth place in x-strut twirling, a
dance form with no baton throws or gymnas
tics. In two-baton twirling, she placed eighth.
Hill always has preferred solo twirling over
the other forms because it’s her strongest event,
she said.
Big-toss tricks and fast flips are her favorite
moves. She would work on original moves
with combinations of kicks, spins and illu
sions, she said. An illusion is where the twirler
plants one leg on the ground and rotates the
other around her body.
Hill said she had perfected her moves
through constant, intense practice. Until mid
way through high school, she said, she prac
ticed at least two hours a day on weekdays and
six to eight hours on weekends.
Her drive came from her love for twirling.
“I liked the movement between dance and
gymnastics, the arm movements and spins.”
she said.
Her determination has kept her twirling
since second grade. Even when she first began
twirling for YMCA, her dedication singled her
out.
“About 200 girls started out, but after a
while there were only four of us left,” Hill siHd.
Hill was competing by age eight and had her
first major win at age nine, when she won the
state solo competition.
But Hill has had her failures. At a solo
competition in Texas, she said she dropped her
first two throws and fell on the third.
“I was so mad when I walked off the floor,
Jeff Hal ler/DN
UNL student Courtney Hill competed and won at the world solo baton twirling competition at Notre Dame last summer.
but I ended up winning the solo competition,”
Hill said.
Hill endured the frustrations of practicing
and competing, unable to quit for any extended
period of time.
“I’d sometimes get to the point where I’d
just scream ‘I quit’ and throw my baton in the
closet. Then two or three days later I’d be back
in the gym,” Hill said.
Her work in grade school and high school
paid off when she was accepted by five univer
sities to be the feature twirler: Arizona State,
Arkansas, Texas, Nebraska and South Califor
nia. She said she chose to come to UNL be
cause the people were friendly and she liked
the city.
“I fell in love with it when I came here for
tryouts,” Hill said.
She said she enjoyed performing at
Comhusker football games, but open air and
turf made twirling hard. She said the Orange
Bowl was one of her most memorable twirling
experiences.
This spring, Hill’s destinations include
California, Texas, Kansas City, Lincoln and
Omaha.
In June, she’ll twirl at competitions in Texas
and return to the world championship in July.
At championships, she said she hoped to
qualify for the world team, which will compete
in Switzerland. Her other goal is to twirl as an
ambassador throughout Peru with seven others
this fall.
*
Police use posted flier
.to bust off-campus party
By Chad Lorenz
Staff Reporter
Three roommates are set to appear
in Lancaster County Court March 15
after their weekend off-campus party
was busted by undercover police.
Lincoln police learned about the
party from a flier posted in Bun
Residence Hall on East Campus, in
vestigated and later broke it up. The
roommates, three University of Ne
braska-Lincoln students, made the
joke flier to advertise the party at
1635 N. 14th St.
Joel McClurkin, Dale Kadavy and
Aaron Hall were cited for sale of
alcohol without a license and main
taining a disorderly house. Police
also confiscated $88 in cash.
The flier stated that beer and
margaritas would be consumed at
that address Saturday night. The bot
tom of the flier stated “please distrib
ute freely.”
McClurkin said the flier was a
joke and given only to a few friends.
“We don’t even know anyone on
East campus,” McClurkin said.
Police reports estimated about 150
people were present at the house.
Police didn’t issue a warning when
they arrived.
“Within 30 seconds of seeingthem,
I was handcuffed and in the back of
the police car,” McClurkin said.
Officers emptied cans of alcohol,
but left the three kegs at the house,
McClurkin said.
McClurkin said none of their par
ties were meant to make a profit.
Usually, he said, they barely came
out ahead.
The parties were for their friends,
he said, though others were welcome.
Their most recent party, McClurkin
said, attracted more people than they
expected.
Signed
Continued from Page 1
jobs, or invest $100 million and cre
ate 250 new jobs. The bill passed on
a 31-12 vote. LB829 originally had
an emergency clause attached, but it
needed 33 votes to pass with the
emergency clause and fell short, 30
13.
Sen. Doug Kristensen of Minden
said he was pleased to see senators
put aside partisan and geographic
differences to pass the bills.
Kristensen said he didn’t believe
the Legislature had an urban-rural
split, but if it existed, the Micron bills
would have been a classic case for it
to arise.
“I think a lot of senators looked at
the bigger picture,” he said. “That’s
encouraging.”
In addition to Micron, Nelson said
other companies had begun to ex
press interest in Nebraska. He said
Nebraska was getting a reputation for
becoming a good place to build a
business.
Pfizer Inc. reportedly is consider
ing locating a plant in Lincoln.
Maxine Moul, director of the Ne
braska Department of Economic De
velopment, said a final proposal went
to Pfizer last week and the company
should make a decision by May 1.
Moul said LB828, LB829 and
LB830 gave Nebraska the tools it
needed to be competitive with other
states in luring companies like Mi
cron and Pfizer that provide high
paying jobs.
Fight
Continued from Page 1
sidewalk. A Sigma Nu member struck
Williams with what he thought was
an arm cast.
Other Sigma Nu members knocked
down Winfrey and repeatedly kicked
him, at least once in the face. Winfrey
suffered bruised ribs and a possible
stress fracture to his arm.
Police arrived on the scene after
the two injured Delts returned to the
house.
Manning said the parties involved
were questioned, but no arrests were
made.
Gossard said he planned to con
tact Sigma Nu’s national office and
possibly take legal action against the
house.
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