Local twirlers sweep Canadian championships

Three local baton twirlers will represent Canada at the World Baton Twirling Championships in Ghent, Belgium in April.

Ashley Renecker of the Festival City Twirlers and Samantha and Janine Metelski, local members of the Oshawa Camaros Baton Club, qualified for spots on the national team at the Canadian National Baton Twirling Association Canadian Championship  and World Qualifiers  in Kitchener on the weekend.

Renecker, 15, secured a spot on the 2009 national team by placing third in junior 2-baton.

Samantha, 14, qualified in junior solo, x-strut, 2-baton and freestyle. As well, four teams on which she twirls – the junior and senior dance twirl and junior and senior twirl teams – also qualified.
Janine, 9, qualified in juvenile x-strut, 2-baton and freestyle.

Festival City Twirlers results
All three Festival City Twirlers teams that competed took national titles, with their novice juvenile small dance twirl, beginner junior trio and beginner primary dance line all winning gold.

Individually, the club had impressive results, with several twirlers winning the prestigious Miss
Majorette of Canada competition in their respective divisions.

Along with snagging a spot on the world team, Renecker also won silver in Canadian intermediate 2-baton, bronze in Canadian beginner solo, sixth in Canadian beginner x-strut and placed fifth in the

Beginner Miss Majorette of Canada competition. She won first in open intermediate 2-baton.

Cassie Droog, 8, swept the competition, winning the Novice Juvenile Miss Majorette of Canada title and placing first in Canadian novice solo 7-9 and open novice solo 7-9.

Kaitlyn Buxton, 11, was named Novice Preteen Miss Majorette of Canada, won bronze in novice solo 10-12 and placed fifth in beginner basic strut.

Tina Bradshaw, 16, won Beginner Junior Miss Majorette of Canada. She won gold in beginner x-strut 13-15, silver in Canadian beginner solo and bronze in Canadian beginner 2-baton. She placed second in open beginner 2-baton.

Despite a painful injury, Hanna Fahraeus, 12, won gold in Canadian beginner solo 10-12 and finished fourth in Canadian beginner x-strut, sixth in Canadian beginner 2-baton and placed fifth in the Beginner Preteen Miss Majorette of Canada contest. She won bronze in open beginner 2-baton.

Allison Droog, 3, and Madison Debus, 4, had good showings in beginner basic strut 0-6.
The contest wraps up the Festival City Twirlers season.

Other local results

The weekend championships wrapped up an intense 10 days of twirling for the Metelski sisters. Last week, they competed at the Canadian Baton Twirling Federation Canadian Championships in Moncton, N.B. bringing home seven medals. Janine was awarded the judges’ Wow Award for outstanding showmanship.

At the CNBTA championships, Samantha was crowned Junior Miss Majorette of Canada and also won titles in advanced x-strut and 2-baton. She won silver in advanced solo and freestyle.

Janine won intermediate x-strut and 2-baton titles and placed second in intermediate solo (protection rule) and advanced freestyle.

The girls will wrap up their season by competing at America’s Youth on Parade in South Bend, Ind. on July 21-26.

PHOTO: From left, Festival City Twirlers members Kaitlyn Buxton, Ashley Renecker, Tina Bradshaw, Cassie Droog and Hanna Fahraeus took home several major titles at the Canadian National Baton Twirling Association’s Canadian Championships and World Qualifiers, held at Conestoga College in Kitchener on the weekend. (Tori Sutton Photo)