It was a classic case of David versus Goliath. 

The Appalachian State majorette line defeated the Florida State University majorette line in the 1999 DMA Mini-National Competition on Jan. 16 in Cleveland, Tenn. 

Winning the competition gave the ASU majorettes the title of being the “1999 National College Majorette Line,” said Director of the Marching Mountaineers Dr. Jay Jackson. 

The team consisted of four members including sophomore Terra Carpenter, junior Paige Keenan, and freshmen Aimee Diehl and Allison Lindquist. 

There are three main ways of getting points in the competition according to Keenan.   They are routine content (twirling), general effect (teamwork) and personal appearance (uniforms). Keenan said they got high marks in the general effect category. 

According to Keenan, the key factor to winning the competition was that the ASU team twirled as a group and with more exchanges than most of the other teams.  When asked what the FSU team did differently, she stated that there were more individual aspects to their program. 

Diehl said that the team practiced around two hours a day three to five times a week to prepare for this competition. 

Jackson said that the team chose to do this on their own, without any coach to help them.  “I am elated for them,” he said. 

When asked what expectations they held before the competition, Carpenter said, “One of the reasons we went to this competition was to get feedback from the judges on what we might be doing wrong.” 

“We participated to get experience for future competitions,” said Keenan. 

Jackson said that he held no expectations for the event because this was the first time the majorettes had participated in this type of event. 

He also stated that the award is a multifaceted award because it not only allows the majorettes to rejoice, it allows the university as a whole to join in the excitement and to be proud of the efforts of the majorette team.