BOUNTIFUL—After countless hours of hard work, the Bountiful High Mandonelles won three titles at the West Coast Elite Dance Nationals drill competition held in Long Beach, California March 5-7. High school drill teams from all over the country come to compete.

“We were very impressed with a lot of the teams that were there,” said head coach Alba Butler. “Especially the California dance teams there were phenomenal. But after our girls won Military (category) at state and came in second at state finals they wanted to compete one more time and showcase the team.”

For the Character category, the Mandonelles performed as Gladiators. Photo by GABZANDI | Moments Media

 They set out to compete at nationals, she said. “Honestly that is very challenging and hard to do after state. Just having the momentum to keep going after you've gone for so long in the season when all the other teams are just done and can relax and go on vacation.”

The kids put in another month of practices and perfecting their routines for nationals, said Butler. “We did make some tweaks and changes as well and they went to nationals and they won in all three categories, Jazz routine, Military and Character for their show routine. So they’re three time national champions now.”

Drill takes a lot of dedication, she said. “The season is kind of a 12 month sport. There’s no pause or break to it. They start with auditioning in March and then they start their spring practices in May, all the way through summer practices. Then they perform at all the football games and basketball games. So they’re really performing and going to community events while squeezing in hours to practice their competition routines.”

There are 26 kids on the team. “There’s a mix of freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors,” Butler said. “This year we have our first boy to ever compete at the state finals. It’s been so fun because drill is a coed sport this year.”

The 2025/26 season was the first year it passed, she said. “It’s been something we’ve been fighting for, for a long time. We just couldn’t get enough votes, but we were finally able to. The board is made up of UHSAA representatives, coaches and principals.”

Butler said other schools in the district have coed teams now too. “I believe there’s one boy in 6A and there’s one in 4A and then Aiden is the one (on our team) in 5A.” 

He’s a junior so he’ll be back next year, she said. “He wants to dance in college. So when drill became coed it was a perfect opportunity for him to get extra training and get more of a collegiate training.”

The Show category the team won is essentially a character hip hop routine, said Butler. “All the teams have to have a character aspect to it or a theme with costuming and music that all had to go together and it had to be hip hop. So we chose to be gladiators and our music was very gladiator with excerpts from the movie ‘Gladiator.’”

Butler believes the team beat out the competition because of their hard work and training. “I think the kids nowadays are just trained so much better,” she said. “They have to do so much at the same time – they’re training hard.”

They’re going to dance studios until 10 or 11 at night, Butler said. “They have to keep up their grades. They’re just expected to do so much more than before so I think putting them in a position or in a situation to compete against such great talent – they just rose to the occasion.”

They had to push harder, dance bigger, do more and it came like second nature to them, she said. “It was nothing they were not used to already.”

It didn’t matter how we placed at competitions, said Butler. “They just came back to practice every day and they just ultimately set out to do the very best they could, regardless if the judges agreed or not.”

The girls are inspiring, she said. “I think they’ve learned so many life lessons besides winning and being great dancers. They have truly learned how to work hard and push past their limits and not second guess their abilities. I’m just proud of the people they are becoming. I think when a kid graduates from the Mandonelle program they have all the tools to excel in life.”