This past Saturday, Logan-Rogersville High School Wildcat Marching Band attended the “Festival of Champions” held at University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.
The band was one of 28 competing groups from across Missouri and Kansas. Despite inclement weather, the competitors were able to perform their prelims shows, however finals performances had to be canceled.
LRHS’s preliminary show performance earned them the Outstanding Drum Majors award, Outstanding Color Guard award, and the Outstanding Percussion award in the Class 3A category.
LRHS also received awards for their percussion and color guard teams, placing first in both the Indoor Color Guard Competition and the Indoor Percussion Competition, both in Class B.
Additionally, the group received the title of Grand Champion at the event with a score of 87.67. To get this award, LRHS’s score was compared to all other bands’ total scores, across four different class sizes. In second place was Platte County with a score of 84.33, and in third was Lee's Summit North with 84.32.
“To say our band's students, staff, and families are BEYOND excited and proud to finish our season as Grand Champs, is an understatement!” said Christa Wellman, LRHS band parent and band booster media lead volunteer in a statement.
This season’s show at LRHS, which was performed at the competition, is called “Our Verse."
"It was inspired by the film ‘Dead Poets Society’ and features sounds & quotes from the movie and visually ties in schooling with our uniforms, props, Guard flags, and more," said Wellman.
The show was directed by LRHS Band Director Chris Sacco, who has been at the school for two years now. Prior to working at LRHS, Sacco was the band director at Ava High School for 16 years.
LRHS also used this competition as an opportunity to honor former classmates Bree Williams and Ryan Newsome, who passed away in a vehicle crash at the beginning of the summer.
Williams, who was involved with LRHS band, was commemorated with a picture of her clarinet and a quote dedicated to her on the band’s team shirts and additionally through several field show props. These include chalkboard drawings picturing clarinet notes and song lyrics from My Chemical Romance, a band featured in the show.
“Bree was a shining example of kindness, compassion, cooperation and leadership in the band and her life as a whole. She was on track to be a Clarinet Section Leader this season as a junior. Our band has been mourning and missing her dearly," added Wellman. “We will continue to honor Bree's legacy.”
For more information on LRHS band, visit www.LogRogBand.com or check out their Facebook page.
