Varsity Winter Guard Ends the Season by Placing Ninth at State

Hannah McDonough, Horizon Assistant Editor| April 2, 2022

  • The varsity winter guard team links their hands together as their captains lead them in a pep talk. The team placed ninth at the TCGC State Competition on Saturday, March 26 with their lullaby-themed show. “[Going to State] was new for all of us and it felt really good,” Joaquin Schere ‘25 said. “We got to State and that’s what matters.” Photo courtesy of Westwood Color Guard.

    Westwood Color Guard
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  • The varsity winter guard team smiles before warming up at the TCGC State Competition. The team had been practicing and adjusting their show leading up to their last competition of the season. “[Making state] was really cool,” Keira Humphries ’24 said. “I had heard that it had happened a couple times before, but I was really excited.” Photo courtesy of Westwood Color Guard.

    Westwood Color Guard
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On Saturday, March 26, the varsity winter guard team placed ninth in their class at the Texas Color Guard Circuit (TCGC) State Competition. They performed at the Texas A&M Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. 

“It was really awesome to actually be able to [go to State], since last year was all virtual submissions,” Keira Humphries ‘24 said. “We were all really excited about it, and we gave it all that we had, and I think it went really well.” 

They secured their spot at State the week before at the Area Competition, where they placed second in their class. The team has placed in the top four teams in their class throughout the entire season.

“I had a really good feeling that we had a very good chance of making it to State,” Joaquin Schere ‘25 said. “I knew we had a fantastic team and that we had been working really hard and that in previous years, we made it, so I didn’t think this would be any different.”

Their show is based on sleep and dreaming, so the music has a lullaby quality to it. In addition to large book props, they also incorporate pillows in their dance and flag choreography, creating the full effect of a gentle lullaby.

“The pillows were really fun sometimes, getting to toss them around,” Schere said. “[Choreography] was really cool, like I had a section where I had to fall down and then lay on [the pillow] and do a spin.”

The team has been adjusting and improving their show since the middle of December. Making State marks the end of the 2022 winter guard season. 

“It went really well,” Captain Cas Smith ‘23 said. “Like, wow, ninth in the state, that’s pretty good. I hope that next season, we can go in even more confident and hopefully make State again.”