The marching band traveled down to Liberal on Oct. 17 to compete in the annual WAC Marching Festival.

Their set included “Make Me Smile”, “Saturday in the Park”, “Wishing You Were Here” and “I’m a Man”, all by the band Chicago.

They received a II rating. Individually, they received a I in Marching, Music, and General Effect, a II in Percussion and a III in Auxiliary.

“While, of course we wanted to bring home an overall I, I am still very proud of the performance we gave in Liberal this year,” instructor Matthew Rome said.

Band will also compete in one more festival. Fort Hays State University’s High Plains Marching Festival will take make on Oct. 22, and the band will perform at 11:45.

Rome is excited to see the process the band has made in their weaker areas by the Fort Hays contest.

“We have a pretty young group this year, but the band made solid strides in their playing and marching over the course of the first nine weeks, and it especially shows on their music performance score (180 out of 200),” Rome said. “The I ratings we earned were all very solid, and the areas that earned lower ratings are improving each year. We seem to get better every day, and I look forward to continuing this progress.”

21abrull@usd489.com