The marching band has started their competition season strongly, placing in three recent contests.

“We’re more experienced this year,” senior William Abruzzese said. “Since our senior class left we have really grown in numbers so there are more of us to teach and that’s really benefitting us.”

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 in the finals against the top 10 bands from 3A to 5A schools. They finished fifth overall.

“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.”

At the US Bands Regional, Oct. 13, the band placed third overall. They won first place in the class, winning the captions of visual, effect, color guard and percussion.

The band performed at the UIL marching contest Saturday and received a First Division from each judge, the highest mark available at the regional level. They will compete at Bands of America, Nov. 2-3.

“If we keep doing what we have been doing then we will definitely place high in BOA,” senior Josh Thompson said. “Bands of America super regional is the biggest competition we go to so that’s where we really want to perform.”