She’s the one who steals the show at halftime.

All eyes turn toward her, watching her every twist and turn at Kinnick Stadium.

She’s the one who dozens of little girls try to imitate when they pick up batons.

Yes, to be the Hawkeyes’ Golden Girl is special, and Diana Reed knows it.

Which is why she practices two to five hours a day, every day.

“It is a lot of time, but it pays off,” said Reed, 21. “I have a huge passion for it. Like anything, the people who succeed are the people who really want to do it.”

As long as she can remember, Reed said she dreamed of being the Golden Girl.

When it came time to apply to colleges, she sent her application only to the University of Iowa. As for a plan B, Reed said she chose not to have one.

It had to be UI.

Now that she soon will be entering her last season as the Golden Girl, leaving with hopes of becoming a performer on Broadway or a Rockette, Reed has been busy sharing with others the skills that she has learned during more than a decade of baton twirling and competing.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she teaches students ages 4 to 18 at the Field House on the UI campus.

If she could, she would teach more, but “it’s hard to find time” between juggling classes and her own baton practices, Reed said.

Her advice to aspiring Golden Girls: “Keep working hard.”

— Deanna Truman-Cook

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