On Saturday, Sept. 24, the Westwood Warrior Marching Band attended Bands of America Austin (BOA), their first competition of the season. However, the beginning of marching season truly started for the band back in August when they began rehearsing countless hours under the scorching sun in order to get a head start on their show, “Shall We Dance?”.

“The band had a great first competition, setting the tone for a promising competitive season,” Band Director Brittany Dacy said. “We can’t wait to show the audience the rest of the show later on.”

All members arrived at school bright and early at 6:30 a.m. for group stretching and then loaded onto the buses to perform at the Kelly Reeves Athletics Complex at 10:15 a.m. Band members felt that their preliminary performance was strong and had high hopes about making finals later on in the day.

“You never know what the results will be, so all you can do is go out there and give your best effort,” Romtin Farsi ‘18 said.

As the day progressed, the skies began to darken. The last two performances of the preliminary round were delayed due to lightning. Due to the delays, the band had time to relax in the band hall and watch Up. When finals announcements were made, the band found out they had not qualified for finals.

“Despite not making finals, I’m really proud of our performance and how far we’ve come,“ Sneha Rajendran ‘19 said.

Later on in the weekend, it was revealed that the band had placed twelfth, two spots away from being a finalist. However, the band looks forward to competing at BOA San Antonio later on in October and continuing to better their show.

“Even though we didn’t get the results that we wanted, we’re all extremely proud of our performance and had lots of fun with it, which at the end of the day is why we do what we do,” Drum Major Jack Scelsi ‘17 said.