Under the lights of Kinnick Stadium, Carissa Wolfe spins, bends, and launches a baton into the air as she performs with the Hawkeye Marching band. 

She first picked up a baton at 4 years old, and she’s been twirling and tossing it ever since.

Now, the first-year student has four international gold medals in twirling for the International Baton Twirling Federation in Italy and holds the position of the Golden Girl for the Hawkeye Marching Band.

The Golden Girl, or feature twirler, adds visual excitement to Hawkeye football halftime performances with the marching band through baton twirling, including high-speed tosses, intricate tricks, and coordinated choreography.

“I get to do something I’m passionate about, and I get to go into a little bit of a leadership position,” Wolfe said. “So that’s me training on my own at least two hours a day, plus two hours a day of rehearsal.”

Marching Band Director Eric Bush said the featured twirler position involves an extensive audition process with applicants from around the world. Candidates submit a résumé, personal statement, and twirling demonstration. 

A panel made up of outside adjudicators selects 10 finalists, and Bush conducts interviews and a final audition to choose the winner. He said Wolfe’s personality and skill set her apart from the rest.

“[Wolfe] is in a league of her own,” Bush said. “She’s a wonderful person. She’s a person that’s goal-oriented. She has ambition, but she understands the big picture of the Hawkeye Marching Band as well as how the feature twirler position fits into that. She is an incredible athlete. Her twirling is second to none.”

Bush said Wolfe’s vision of how she wanted to perform and interact with the band made the decision to select her for the position of Golden Girl clear.

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In her interview, Wolfe was already showing she was willing to collaborate and had ambition to elevate the position, Bush said. 

To Wolfe, the beauty of the sport lies in how many disciplines from different kinds of sports it
brings together.

“It’s a combination of dance gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics — all the things put together in one,” she said.

The choreography she performs on the field is entirely designed by Wolfe herself. She said she gets inspiration from TikTok and Instagram videos and is able to teach routines to both herself and younger, aspiring twirlers. 

Wolfe said she loves to teach choreography to younger students and really enjoys the creativity that creating a routine requires. 

Wolfe won her gold medals competing in the International Baton Twirling Federation, a global organization hosting a baton twirling world championship each August. 

“I’ve been lucky enough to get to do that the past three summers,” she said. “It’s been super cool to be on Team USA and  represent my country.”

Marching Band Drum Major and UI graduate student Brandon Alpers, whom Wolfe called her “built-in older brother,” said she brings a layer of excitement and depth to each of their performances, and he has enjoyed working with her for his last season in the marching band. 

“It’s been just so fun to work with her and watch her grow every single game day and just excel with her twirling and her performing,” he said. “Seeing her get more comfortable in the role, interacting with fans, and getting to know more people in the band, it’s simply a joy.”

Wolfe said her favorite memory of the year so far is performing to the Iowa Fight Song for the first time with the marching band.

“It was definitely interesting coming in,” she said. “I realized that I have 300 people who will always have each other’s back. Nothing’s ever personal, and we’re all in it together.”

Having only twirled in Kinnick with the Hawkeye Marching Band so far, Wolfe said she hopes to perform in a bowl game at the end of the season.

“I think that would be super cool to get to go to a bowl game and travel with all the new friends I’ve made,” she said. “I want to show my twirling somewhere other than Iowa City. I think that’s so cool to get to represent the school in a bunch of different places.”