The marching band advanced to finals and took fifth at the Vista Ridge Marching Contest Saturday, Oct. 6. They received first place in the 4A conference and took four out of five possible captions, winning color guard, music, visual and overall effect.

“I was excited because there was a noticeable improvement from last year,” senior trumpet player Dominic Galvan said. “It showed that our hard work after school really paid off. I was surprised when we won because of all the other schools we were going against.”

After placing first in prelims, the band competed again in the finals against the top 10 bands from 3A to 5A schools that performed that day. After a long day of anticipation, the marching band finished fifth.

“We had a really good show and it was the best yet,” band director Lee Crochet said. “I was really excited, but I wasn’t surprised. We worked really hard and we have students that are awesome.”

The band is also competing in the Austin American Statesman’s “Battle of the Bands” against Leander High School. Voting for the bands continues through Friday, Oct. 12. The website to vote is http://www.statesman.com/s/sports/highschool/battleofthebands/ and students can vote as many times as they want.