Taking the big field: Lubbock-area bands participate in Texas state marching contest
SAN ANTONIO — Four Lubbock-area marching bands competed at the UIL State Marching Band Championships this week at the Alamodome, with one of them earning a spot among the top 10 high school bands of its size in Texas.
Frenship, Hale Center, New Deal and Sundown represented the South Plains at the contest, which spanned Monday morning through Wednesday night and included 83 2A, 4A and 6A bands from every corner of the state.
The Frenship band marched against 41 other schools in the 6A preliminary round Monday morning. Frenship placed 38th in the prelims with their show titled "Lightning Field" and did not advance to the final round of competition Tuesday afternoon.
Hale Center, New Deal and Sundown marched in the 2A prelims Tuesday morning, with Sundown advancing to the finals that evening. Eighteen bands competed in the 2A contest with seven advancing to the finals.
Sundown ended the day as the seventh place 2A band in Texas. Hale Center placed 12th in prelims and New Deal 17th.
Related: Amarillo-area bands earn high marks in Texas state marching contest
Each band at the state championships qualified for the contest by earning high marks in an area competition earlier in the season. Schools only have the opportunity to compete in the state contest every other year, as 1A, 3A and 5A contests alternate years with 2A, 4A and 6A.
Besides Frenship, 6A participants were Austin Lake Travis, Austin Vandegrift, Austin Westlake, Bridgeland, Brownsville Hanna, Cedar Park Vista Ridge, Conroe Oak Ridge, Conroe The Woodlands, Conroe The Woodlands College Park, Coppell, Cy-Fair, Cypress Woods, Dickinson, Dripping Springs, Duncanville, Fort Bend Austin, Friendswood Clear Brook, Harlingen, Hurst Bell, Katy Seven Lakes, Katy Taylor, Keller, Keller Timber Creek, Klein Oak, Laredo Alexander, Lewisville Flower Mound, Lewisville Hebron, Lewisville Marcus, McKinney Boyd, Midland, Odessa Permian, Pearland, Pearland Dawson, Round Rock, Round Rock Cedar Ridge, San Antonio Johnson, San Antonio Reagan, Tomball Memorial, Waxahachie, Wylie and Wylie East.
Austin Vandergrift was crowned state champion in 6A.
Class 2A participants, besides those listed above, were Anson, Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco, Bogata Rivercrest, Charlotte, Clarksville, Forsan, Ganado, Harper, Honey Grove, Mason, Panhandle, Santo, Shiner, Tenaha and Valley Mills.
Shiner High School took home the 2A state title.
All results from the state marching band competition can be found at smbc.uiltexas.org.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock-area bands participate in Texas state marching contest
