Under constant worry of looming torrential storms, the Westwood Warrior Marching Band placed eighth at the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Area D Competition on Saturday, Oct. 25 at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex (KRAC).
UIL Area is the competition that qualifies five bands to attend the UIL State Marching Contest. Many members had high hopes for this competition, as they had been working tirelessly since their success at Bands of America Waco Regional to have an even better chance of making state.
“I feel like our [prelims] performance compared to our earlier season performances was definitely [better],” Myah Kapavik ‘27 said. “Just looking at what some of the judges [scored] us felt a little questionable to me. In my opinion, I feel like we really deserved to go to state. We really wanted it, but in the end it is what it is, and I feel like we worked really hard.”
Members groggily arrived in the cafeteria early on Saturday morning after a late football game the night before. They ate breakfast, discussing hopes for the long day ahead. Section parents handed out goodie bags full of snacks and drinks as students got on buses and headed for the KRAC.
“[In our goodie bags, we got] a huge cookie that was awesome,” Sophia Yeh ‘27 said. “My sister opened it after I got home and we shared that cookie. It was so good.”
Weather forecasts predicted rain for the day, but as the band arrived at the KRAC, fears of a downpour were temporarily eased when they saw clear skies and puffy white clouds as the band’s preliminary warmup and performance went by without a drop of rain.
“[Prelims] felt really good,” Kapavik said. “Our directors said it was one of the best we’ve had since they’ve joined the program, so that made me feel really good about the run. Coming out of the run, I felt like that was probably one of my top two runs ever.”
After returning to the buses and eating lunch, the band had hours of waiting before prelims results were announced. Students chose to spend their time in various ways, such as sleeping, doing homework, or playing games. Once the finalist bands were announced, including Westwood, the band started to prepare for their finals run. Just as they were finishing encouraging each other in section circles and about to leave for warm up, UIL officials made the call to delay finals due to incoming storms. Students quickly reloaded the bus as dark clouds rolled in.
“[Our circle] was very inspiring. I definitely felt emotional, and it was a really great experience to have everyone in the section together,” Yeh said. [When we got back on the buses,] I was like ‘Aw man, we did all of those emotional speeches for nothing.’ I felt like we could have got back out and performed again if it was a small storm, but we didn’t end up doing that.”
After anxiously waiting, UIL officials announced that finals were fully cancelled. The weather conditions were not improving quickly enough, so bands would have been delayed too far into the night if the competition continued. When finals are cancelled, UIL regulations state that the prelims scores are used to determine who advances. Westwood placed eighth in prelims, and did not advance to state.
“[When we had to get back on the bus] I felt sad,” Kapavik said. “ I wished they would’ve moved finals to Monday so we could’ve had a finals run. I really believe if we had had that finals run we could’ve shown the judges how badly we wanted to make state. We might’ve had a better chance of making [state], so it was disappointing.”
Marching season is fast approaching its end, with only one competition left. The band has two weeks until their final performance, and will work hard until then to be at their best and have a chance for redemption.
“I feel like we all know how much we deserved to go to state,” Kapavik said. “I feel like we’re going to work super hard for BOA San Antonio to make finals.”
The band will next compete at BOA San Antonio on Friday, Nov. 7.
