Marching band traveled to the Emporia State Marching Festival Wednesday, Oct. 4 to compete against 20 other school bands. They received a Superior 1 rating for their performance and placed third overall.

The score that landed them in third was only a small margin away from the first place score. Band director Deb Steiner reflects on the performance.

“​​Overall we got the highest rating we can get,” Steiner said. “The difference between us and the first place is only 10 points, so if we would have gotten one more point in each category, we would have actually been higher.”

In addition to the overall third place, the drumline received a specific Outstanding Drumline Award at the festival to commend their individual performance. Sophomore Carson Schmidtlein, member of the drumline, explains how he felt about receiving this award and the preparation they put in.

“I was very surprised [because] when you’re actually in the moment it feels like you’re doing a lot worse than you actually [are],” Schmidtlein said. “We’ve been going in at five o’clock every Monday and one of our drumline members, her dad, has been coaching. He’s been helping us a lot.”

Separate from drumline, junior Joah Clark was one of three soloists at the festival, alongside junior Carson Reynolds and senior Georgia Hansen. She explains the complications that occurred, and how she overcame them.

Overall, according to senior and woodwind section leader Kate Marten, the band performed well under pressure.

“I think it went really good compared to our last few rehearsals,” Marten said. It was looking a little rough for a few weeks, but I think we really pulled through as a group.”

Coming up Saturday, Oct. 14, the band will be competing at the Central States Marching Festival at Kansas State University. Steiner explains how the band will improve for this next competition.

“It’s all about the little details now,” Steiner said. “It’s those little tiny things that set you apart from first to third [place].”