GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

Congratulations to the elite athletes who earned the title of Grand National Champion during the 2023 U.S. National Baton Twirling Championships, held July 11-15, at the Silver Spurs Arena and Events Center at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. The competition was sponsored by the United States Twirling Association and supported by the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.

Ally Duda, 21, earned the titles of Grand National Women's Solo and Artistic Twirl Champion. Duda was the 2022 Grand National Artistic Twirl Champion and is a three-time member of Team USA. She is a senior and feature twirler at the University of Georgia, where she is majoring in human development and family science on the pre-occupational therapy track.

Bower Sarra, 24, repeated as Grand National Men's Solo Champion and added the title of 2-Baton Grand National Champ. Sarra is a 2022 graduate of Arizona State University where he was a feature twirler and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He now works full-time as an analyst at One Energy, and he continues to twirl with The ShowTwirlers.

Katiana Welsheimer, 22, earned the title of Grand National Strut Champion. Welsheimer is a 2023 Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Memphis where she was a Tiger Twin feature twirler and earned a degree in exercise science. She and her twin sister Kirsandra earned the bronze medal in the Senior Pair discipline at the 2022 World Baton Twirling Championships in Turin, Italy.

Julia Arciola, 22, repeated as Grand National 3-Baton Champion. Arciola is the 2022 National Collegiate Champion and was a feature twirler at the University of Illinois. She is now working on her master's degree at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

In addition, Marissa Pierce, a senior at Michigan State University, won the title of 2023 National Collegiate Champion. Pierce is majoring in political science pre-law with minors in leadership and organization and public law policy and justice.

These champions were among nearly 800 of the nation's best sport baton twirlers who competed in the 2023 National Championships, which included the prestigious U.S. PreTrials competition, the Athlete of the Year all-around competition, the National Collegiate Championship, and the Festival of the Future, a national competition for novice, beginner, and intermediate athletes.

Complete results are available here.

The 2024 U.S. National Baton Twirling Championships will be held July 9-13, 2024, in the Nutter Center and McLin Gym at Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio.

For more information about the sport of baton twirling and the United States Twirling Association, visit www.ustwirling.com.