INDIANAPOLIS — Brooklyn Harpold was anxious, to say the least.
She was standing on the field in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Saturday — one in a crowd of hundreds of high school band students that spanned from end zone to end zone — waiting to see how she and the rest of Greenfield-Central High School’s Cougar Pride Marching Band fared in the Indiana State School Music Association’s State Finals.
The announcer had called out the results in descending order. Ten schools had competed in Class B, and at this point almost every band had learned its placement. Three spots were left to be announced.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryHarpold, a junior and one of Greenfield-Central’s drum majors, said she remembered thinking at that moment that she could have lived with any of the remaining titles: a first-, second- or third-place finish would have felt like success and would have proved that she and her friends had worked their hardest and earned a spot among the best bands in the state.
And then Northview High School was named third. And the jaws of Cougar Pride members dropped. And a ripple of excitement seemed to pass through their crowd of supporters in the stands.
They’d done it. They’d do it — again.
Greenfield-Central’s marching band took home a second-place finish Saturday in the ISSMA state finals — repeating its success of two years ago when the band brought home a runner-up trophy for the first time.
The second-place finishes in 2016 and 2018 are the best the band has received. It also earned ninth place in 2014 and eighth place in 2005. The 2015 and 2017 seasons ended in disappointment, with the band not making it to the state competition.
The 2018 junior and senior classes were among the band’s youngest members in 2016, when the Cougar Pride placed second at the state finals for the first time, Harpold said.
So, they knew what success was, they’d tasted it. But they also knew the sting that came with missing out on a trip to the state’s most prestigious stage.
That 2017 season was a fluke, Harpold said. This year’s set of marching band students — led by the juniors and seniors — used it as a driving force behind their season. They wanted to prove themselves, to their school, their community and each other that they could do better. That they were better.
Harpold held the second-place trophy soon after exiting the field. It was heavy, she added with a laugh; really, really heavy. But so worthy to work for.
More than 400 hours of practice went into the Cougar Pride Marching Band’s 2018 season, band members estimated.
Rehearsals began in the summer, including a week-long band camp of 12-hour daily practices. The months that follow were filled with class-time run-thoughts, after-school rehearsals and Friday night football game half-time performances.
It all led up to the ISSMA regional and semi-state contests in October. The Cougar Pride Marching Band placed in the top 10 in Class B — a group made up of bands from schools similar in size to Greenfield-Central — during the semifinal contest last weekend, ensuring they advanced to the state finals at Lucas Oil for the second time in three years.
Their routine Saturday during the state finals wasn’t perfect, director Chris Wing admitted while giving his students a post-performance pep talk prior to the results being announced.
But it was good, he said, and they had so much to be proud of.
“…What we do is live art,” Wing said. “And when you do live art, you run the risk that things aren’t perfect. But that’s kinda the beauty of it.
“(The performance) had a ton of emotion to it; it had a ton of energy to it; it had a ton of excitement,” Wing continued. “And that makes up for everything that you know on the inside wasn’t perfect.”
But even with the little mistakes they knew they made, Saturday’s performance was among the best the band had achieved so far, senior band member Elijah Neeley said.
Like Harpold, Neeley said he and his classmates came back wanting to redeem their 2017 disappointment. Even before knowing the results, it felt like they’d achieved that redemption at least, he said.
Judging at marching band competitions can be subjective, directors say. Judges’ decisions are based on their impressions, not a box score.
Regardless of who won, every band competing Saturday — there were 40 total across the four classes — should be proud of their accomplishments because they’d proved simply by being at the state finals that they were among the best bands in the state, an ISSMA official said over the stadium’s PA system before announcing the Class B results.
And, as if to echo that pronouncement, the whole of the crowd got to its feet, cheering and applauding — a sign of respect for the hard work of each school, each student, who competed.
Then judging began. And eight names were read aloud — each followed by shouts of glee from the supporters of each school — before Greenfield-Central earned its moment of recognition.
From there, a feeling a pure excitement engulfed them, Harpold said. And that excitement fleshed into the crowd.
Ron and Veronica Byers watched from the stands in Lucas Oil Stadium as their daughters Kayla and Carley competed Saturday. Listening as the results came in was nerve-wracking, they said; they were so pleased with the way the results turned out. They hoped they students felt as proud of themselves as their parents were of them.
Wing, too, wanted the students to know he was proud of them, even before the results were finalized. He thanked them for their dedication, for never giving up, even when giving up felt easier than continuing with their practices.
“We did it together,” Wing said. “Tell me that’s not worth it?”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Winner’s list” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Here’s a look at the final placings for the Indiana State School Music Association Open Class B state finals:
1. Greenwood High School
2. Greenfield-Central High School
3. Northview High School (Brazil)
4. Munster High School
5. Jasper High School
6. North Side High School (Fort Wayne)
7. Bloomington North High School
8. Evansville North High School
9. Pendleton Heights High School
10. Northridge High School
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Dragons celebrate, too” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The New Palestine High School Marching Dragons traveled to Ohio Saturday, where they won the Mid States Band Association Class AAA Championship.
The Marching Dragons were one of 20 bands from Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and other nearby states that took part in the competition, which pitted them against high school marching bands of similar size.
The Class AAA Championships included bands with 51 to 70 band members, and was held at Kings High School, Kings Mill, Ohio.
Bands were judged in three areas: music, visual effect and another category that included percussion and auxiliary performances.
New Palestine finished second out of 20 bands in preliminary play, where the top 10 bands then moved onto the finals.
In the championship round, the Dragons came in first place, earning a score of 77.700, edging out Bellbrook High School of Ohio, which came in second with a 76.400 score.
[sc:pullout-text-end]