La Grange Band Keeps Surging
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Hailee Martinez, flute, was named outstanding soloist at the Edna Marching Invitational. -
The La Grange High School band poses with their hardware after the Edna marching contest. -
La Grange band staff and student drum majors, left to right: Sarah Fourmy, Layne Huenefeld, Chris Cooper, Jill Newton, Eric Daniels, Jonathan Delgadillo and Christian Pitre.
On Saturday, Oct. 8, the Mighty Leopard Band (MLB) competed in the Edna Marching Invitational at Edna High School. There were 33 bands in attendance, including 11 Class 4A Bands. Bands were given ratings, as well as rankings, and had the opportunity to compete for additional awards.
The MLB was awarded a unanimous Superior Rating (Division 1) by the judging panel an improvement from the 1/2/1 split panel at the Troy Marching Festival.
They placed 5th out of the 11 Bands in Class 4A, but 8th out of all 33 Bands in attendance. The band brought home four of the five caption awards for Class 4A, including: Outstanding Color Guard, Outstanding Percussion, Outstanding Drum Majors, and Outstanding Soloist - Hailee Martinez, Flute.
“This was a great result for our band, though, especially for where our program is,” Chris Cooper, Director of Bands said. “The students were fired up. Having this level of success before UIL Region Marching Contest - they’re not used to it. But after Saturday, they’re starting to believe in themselves. They understand now - they can reach the top if they put in the effort and trust in the process. And if we get our musical execution up, they could be very competitive at Area.
“Now that they’ve hit that Division One level, we’re not as concerned about UIL Region this Saturday. We’re focusing more on where they need to be for Area. They have the show and the talent to make a run at State. But we have to execute at the highest level, and that will be a grind. We don’t talk about State much, and we will never promise anything. In fact, say there are more state worthy bands at the Area Marching Contest than there are spots. But our goal is to make their performance State worthy - and that is entirely within our control. That is our goal for the next three weeks.”