ST GEORGE – Marching bands from all over the state of Utah converged on the campus of Utah Tech University to compete in the Red Rocks State Marching Band Championships on Friday, Nov. 8, with several Cache County schools bringing home hardware.
Students and support staff spend countless hours working on shows throughout the summer preparing for the competition season which begins in mid September, culminating in the state competition in St. George.
Green Canyon, under the direction of Jake Anderson, took first place in the 5A Open Division among six schools competing, with a score of 88.713. The band of 136 students also won several captions, meaning they performed the best in specific categories among other bands in their classification. The Wolves won Outstanding Color Guard, Outstanding Visual Performance and Outstanding Musical Performance for their show, titled “Apex.”
The 4A Open classification had four schools competing, with Ridgeline winning 2nd place with a score of 75.313. Under the direction of Jeremy Wells, the Riverhawks have 83 students in their band and their show was titled “Embark: Ship, Train, Balloon, Plane.” This is the largest the Ridgeline marching band has ever been.
The Mountain Crest Mustangs were close behind, finishing 3rd in the 4A Open classification with a score of 74.138. There are 59 members of the Mountain Crest marching band under the direction of Joel Yoder. Besides taking 3rd place at the state competition, they also won the Outstanding Percussion caption for their show, titled “Trapped.”
Sky View, under the direction of Brian Carpenter, competed in the 4A Scholastic division (against four other schools). The Bobcats took 2nd place with a score of 70.663 for their show, titled “Between Wind and Waves.” The band also won the Outstanding Color Guard.
The Red Rocks State Marching Band Championships is produced and organized by the Utah Music Educators Association, chaired by John Miller.