The lead at the point of the show routine literally spun like a top on the tips of her toes along the wooden surface at the UCCU Center in Orem. All the Bingham Minerettes had left to do at the 6A Finals Saturday Feb. 4 was get enough judges to believe in their final routine like the song asked. 

Bingham was able to accomplish that when all 20 Minerettes then spun together in unison to capture a fourth straight state championship. 

“This team had every quality a coach could hope for,” head coach Erika Cox said. “They are talented, dedicated, disciplined, hardworking, passionate, fierce and classy. They earned every bit of their fourth consecutive state title and even more than that, they have a journey they can look back on and be so proud of.” 

After having taken first place overall at every competition, and then having a clean sweep at region and becoming Region 3 champions while attaining the No. 1 ranking all season, to finish with another state championship is truly something the kids can be proud of based on what they had to go through to get that fourth straight state title, Cox said. 

“Since we started off so strong at the beginning of the season this year, we had to push extra hard,” added Cox. “The girls knew they couldn’t settle and that made for some really tough days and practices. They had to be mentally tough and never stop fighting for more. No matter the limits they reached [inside] they kept pushing them. It was an inspiring process to watch.”

It is honestly hard to know as an outsider whether or not this state title came easier than did the previous three for Bingham, who when it was announced at the end of the competition finished second in the military portion of these 6A Finals to Farmington. 

That said, Cox said she believed that the Minerettes difficulty in their routines also set a very high standard and her team executed those difficult skills flawlessly. The military routine would be the last time on Saturday that the Minerettes weren’t given a first-place trophy, even on a night when other competitors like Cyprus were poised to steal the show dressed up like Wayne and Garth of the hit comedy “Wayne’s World” during the dance portion of the competition. 

Bingham ended up taking home both the first-place awards in the dance and show portions of the competition in order to win the overall trophy. 

“When they hit all three of our routines so phenomenally at state, to say we were proud is an understatement. Before awards I circled my girls up and told them they had done every last thing they could have possibly done and regardless of the results, there was not one thing to regret. You never know how the results will go, but I can say that I knew they had done everything they needed to do in order to win a state championship and that feeling going into awards brought a lot of peace.” 

During show phase, Bingham came out with a vengeance. Having changed outfits between the dance and show phases, the Minerettes were now donning golden crowns. They took that dance routine to another level and impressed the judges as the entire 20-person squad pirouetted in unison.

In anticipation of the announcement immediately following the drill portion, the Minerettes huddled in one of the corners of the floor. They hugged each other tightly in their black hoodies emblazoned with a giant white B on each of their backs. 

As soon as Bingham was announced as 6A state champions, all of the other drill teams surged toward those 20 Bs in a show of sportsmanship. 

Bingham now joins the 2004-07 Minerettes as the only teams in school history to four-peat, and if they win next year would become the school’s only five-peat drill team. 

With this victory, Cox is now Bingham’s winningest drill team coach ever with four straight state titles [Bingham was co-coached by Cicely Gibbs and Morgan Smith who won three consecutive state championships, from 2005 to 2007.] 

The Minerettes also had three of their members named to the 6A All-State team Saturday night, the most of any school. They then received a police escort once they were inside South Jordan City limits back to Bingham High, where hundreds anxiously awaited their arrival https://fb.watch/iv20ye-HEy/.