Waterloo’s own eight-year-old Emma Yeager participated in the Dec. 15 NFL Punt, Pass and Kick regional competition at the Edward Jones Dome prior to the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints game.

Yaeger participated in the eight- and nine-year-old division, and finished in third place. Her mom, Kim, reports the two participants who bested her were nine-years-old and the top three kicks were all within six feet of each other.

“She should win it next year,” Kim said.

Last year Emma also competed and finished sixth in the nation in her age group, missing a spot at nationals by two. She was also the only local competitor across the age groups to advance.

“They take all the first place qualifiers from all NFL teams and only the top four go to compete during the championship football game. But they fly you there, which is usually somewhere warm and sunny, so we’d like to get there someday!” Kim said.

Emma’s performance last year set a Waterloo record.

“That score would have won the entire national competition but she had a really bad day at the Rams game (last year), kind of like this year… Poor thing,” Kim said.