Marching band participated in the UIL 4A Area D preliminary competition Nov. 2 in Pflugerville, placing 14th behind Jarrell High School. While the band was not among the top 12 chosen to advance to finals, principal Paul Weinheimer still congratulated them on their efforts.

“I thought we did pretty good, all things considered,” percussionist Trenton Miranda said. “I think we should’ve gotten 12th or 11th place, but one or two of the judges rated us for 19th and that dropped our average enough to miss out on advancing.”

The band received ranks of 12, 11 and 19 for Music 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Its Visual 1 ratings were 16 and 11, each given by a different judge. The winner in both the preliminary and final competitions was Fredericksburg High School.

“I really do feel like we should have advanced,” sousaphone player Alexander Thorne said. “It doesn’t seem entirely fair to me that one judge can give you a much worse score than the others and you could miss out on the top twelve because of it, but I still think we did great and I felt proud about [the performance].”

Of the finalists at the Area D competition, the top six advanced to the state competition level. These six were Fredericksburg, Burnet, Stafford, Needville, Marble Falls and La Grange.

“I just wish we’d done a little bit better,” Thorne said. “We just barely missed out on advancing to the area finals. Even then, though, I don’t think we would have advanced from the finals to state level, but I would’ve liked the chance to try.”