Central Texas high schools make history in state marching band competition

AUSTIN (KXAN) — High school marching band competition season in Texas just wrapped up, and several area school districts sent their student musicians to the state contest this week and last week, some making history in the process.

Getting to the state level in the University Interscholastic League, or UIL, marching band competitions is a rigorous process. Only a few dozen schools wind up placing in the final rounds of competition.

Each year, marching bands from across the state compete in regional contests hoping to advance to area contests. If they do, they must score high enough in the area contest preliminaries to advance to area finals, and then rank high enough in finals to advance to state, according to the UIL’s website.

Several Central Texas high schools made state this year, some for the first time in their history.

State marching competition for high schools in UIL classes 1A, 3A and 5A was held Nov. 4-6, and class 2A, 4A and 6A high schools competed Nov. 11-13.

Nine area high schools ultimately ended up placing as top scorers in the finals rounds at the state competition. But just making it to the contest was historic for some local marching bands.

For Leander Independent School District, all six high school marching bands advanced to UIL state finals — for the first time in the district’s history. The schools were Cedar Park High School, Glenn High School, Leander High School, and Rouse High School, which are class 5A, plus Vandegrift High School and Vista Ridge High School, which are both class 6A.

La Grange High School, a class 4A school, qualified for state for the first time ever. Last year was the band’s first time just making it to the finals at the area competition, according to the La Grange Band Booster Club. The La Grange Mighty Leopard Band was also accepted to participate in the New York Invitational Music Festival at Carnegie Hall in the spring and is working to raise funds for the trip.

Marble Falls High School, in the 4A division, not only made it to area finals for the first time in school history this year, but they also went a step further and placed high enough to advance to the state contest for the first time ever.

The Marble Falls Mustang Band’s director, Tony Leflet, said in a release that the band’s goal was simply to reach the area marching band finals. “Our students not only achieved this goal — they surpassed it. We approached this journey with a mindset of continuous improvement, taking steps to get better each day, always being happy with our progress but never satisfied with the results.”

Local bands’ State Contest results

6A Results

For the 6A round of competition, the bands with the 14 best scores were recognized in the top rankings. Four of those bands were from Central Texas high schools. They are listed below with their rankings.

2 – Vandegrift High School, Leander ISD
4 – Vista Ridge High School, Leander ISD
10 – Cedar Ridge High School, Round Rock ISD
13 – Round Rock High School, Round Rock ISD

Other local 6A high schools that competed at state included: Westlake High School (Eanes ISD), which placed 18th in the preliminary round; Dripping Springs High School (Dripping Springs ISD), which placed 19th; and Lake Travis High School (Lake Travis ISD), which placed 20th.

5A Finals Results

In the 5A division of state competition, the bands with the best 12 scores were recognized in the top rankings this year. Of those 12 schools, four were local to the Austin area; three of them within Leander ISD. Those rankings are listed below.

1 – Cedar Park High School, Leander ISD
2 – Rouse High School, Leander ISD
3 – Leander High School, Leander ISD
8 – Hendrickson High School, Pflugerville ISD

Other local bands that made it to preliminaries to compete at the state level were Glenn High School (Leander ISD) placing 16th in prelims, Hays High School (Hays ISD) placing 18th, and Liberty Hill High School (Liberty Hill ISD) in 22nd.

4A Results

In the 4A rounds, the 10 bands with the best scores were recognized as finalists. Out of the five local schools that competed in the 4A preliminaries, only Davenport High School (Comal ISD) advanced to finals. The band placed 3rd overall for their class.

Other Central Texas bands that made it to state were from: Fredericksburg High School (Fredericksburg ISD), which placed 11th in prelims; Burnet High School (Burnet ISD), which placed 15th; Marble Falls High School (Marble Falls ISD), which placed 21st; and La Grange High School (La Grange ISD), which place 26th.

Only 27 4A high schools in the state qualified for the competition, and making that list is something the La Grange High School band holds as an honor.

“We placed 26th out of 27th, but more significantly, we placed in the top 12% of all 4A bands in the state! There are about 218. Only 27 qualified for the state competition,” Rachel Castillo, with the La Grange Band Booster Club, told KXAN.

3A Results

C.H. Yoe High School in Cameron was the only local 3A school to compete at the state contest, and the band ended up placing 7th overall in the finals.

There were no Central Texas schools in the 1A or 2A rounds of the competition.

Final rankings for all schools that competed can be viewed online.

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