5, 6, 7, 8, HUH. With their characteristic counting and flawless routines, the Minerettes once again have another region title and state championship under their belt. 

Over the past year the Bingham drill team has been working tirelessly to perfect every move and to prepare themselves for region and state competitions. They practice about 20 hours a week. They get up early in the morning and stay after school to practice even more.

Even with all the brutal training they do, if given the chance, they would still do it again.

“Drill has been such a sacrifice, but the biggest blessing. I have learned more about going through life in drill than I would in any other high school class,” said Maddison Robinson.

Ellsie Tueller, another senior on the drill team, agreed,  “Drill can be crazy…yes there are definitely times where you feel like you’ve lost all sanity, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

In addition, the drill team president, Emily Miller, said, “Although being a Minerette is a huge emotional, physical, and time consuming commitment, you get so much out of the program. We learn lessons about life, develop important qualities like dedication and perseverance, and experience teamwork in action. I would definitely choose to do it again if I had the choice”.

In drill competitions, they are graded in several different categories which include choreography, difficulty, execution, and appearance/showmanship. Then they are given a score superior, excellent, good, fair, and poor. Who ever has the highest score in total out of all the categories wins. 

State was the last competition for the senior Minerettes. Having worked so hard over the past three years of their high school career, they’ve come so far from when they were sophomores.

Some of their favorite memories include their pool parties, pasta parties the night before performances, and doing dance numbers during halftime at football and basketball games.

“My number one best memory from my 3 years of drill is winning state last year. The Minerettes have been in 2nd place for 7 years and each year they work so hard to win but it hasn’t been enough. Not only was it a victory for my team, but it was a victory for all alumni team members,” said Robinson.