For the first time in 10 years the Hastings High marching band scored a superior at state. The competition was held on October 24 at the Lloyd Wilson field at Hastings College.
Sophomore Lauren Canady is one of two drum majors for the Marching Tigers. She is the third person in the last 20 years to be a drum major as a sophomore.
“It’s intimidating because the seniority class is still there so sometimes I’m not taken as seriously as I want to be, but it’s still great to have such a high position,” Canady said.
Canady was very proud to get such a high score at band.
“It is very satisfying to receive a superior. We worked really hard this year and it’s just great to come out on top and have the best score we’ve had in 10 years,” Canady said.
The road to state is a 3 month process. Most years the band has started choosing what show they want to perform during band camp in the summer, but this year was different.
“We worked a lot on individual stuff this year, which helped our scores,” Canady said.
Senior Kyler Samples has been marching for HHS for four years and couldn’t be more happy about getting a superior at state.
“It was literally one of the best feelings of my life,” Samples said.
Samples feels that the band this year was more closely knit and focused.
“In previous years we’ve had people who just kind of go with the flow, whereas this year we have people actively trying to get better,” Samples said.
The whole band was impressed with the turnout of spectators the night of the competition.
“When we went out on the field the amount of support that was given was outstanding. There was this giant banner that said ‘We Love Marching Tigers’ and they also brought out the student section flag for us.”
The Marching Tigers wasn’t the only group that participated in state band. The colorguard team was also a part of the performance that night.
“Marching band and colorguard are scored separately, but the color guard score adds to the final score for the band, so in the end we both got a superior,” Sophomore Kara Hartman said.
Hartman has been a part of colorguard for both years of her high school career.
“I love colorguard. It’s amazing to be able to stand there and be able to toss a flag up into the air and it’s just fun because we can do some things that other people can’t do,” Hartman said.
The color guard team also feels that improvements were made from last year to this year.
“Last year we had a choreographer clear back during band camp, but this year we didn’t get one until after our Kool-Aid Days performance, and because of this we really had to learn the choreography. I feel like because our choreographer pushed us to be more attentive to what we are doing we really improved,” Hartman said.
Hartman has a special reason for being especially excited about scoring a superior this year.
“I am so excited because my older sister, Dacia, is on color guard with me and it just feels amazing that we did this together,” Hartman said.
Hartman feels that despite the numerous injured colorguard team members, the team as a whole did a great job.
Scoring a superior at state could be the beginning of a new era of the Marching Tigers at HHS.
