With weeks of preparations and many competitions prior, the EHS marching band performed in the competition at Illinois State University (ISU)  but unfortunately did not make it into the finals.

Even the qualifying teams didn’t get to compete in the finals–due to thunderstorms in the area, the final portion of the competition was cancelled and no team was awarded grand champion.

However, EHS placed six in their class out of seven schools.

Junior percussionist Tristan Blair has been in the band since his freshman year and has seen both the ups and downs of competitions.

“This year we haven’t been doing as well as previous years,” Blair said. “My last two years in band, we went almost completely undefeated with Our Sanctuary and War of the Roses. This year, we have been kind of falling behind.  This is to be expected, as classes graduate and new classes come in, the band is bound to be different every year.”

EHS has not competed at ISU since 2013, so most members didn’t know what to expect.

Band Director Marvin Battle composed and directed this year’s band and guard shows. Members enjoy the show and hoped to have taken home a victory as ISU.

“I really do like this show,” junior trumpetist Emilio Carrion said. “I think the message and the overall presentation of everything is fantastic, and it definitely has pleased all of the judges when we’ve performed it in terms of the overall concept and presentation. However, this show is much harder to march than last year, and the music is definitely a challenge to pull off.”

Even though the show is more elaborate to the band, seniors hope this doesn’t affect their last year’s overall performance.

Senior French Hornist Sarah Dietzen keeps her hopes high for the last competitions of the marching season even though it has been a rough start.

“We can only go up from where we are now,” Dietzen said. “We’re making good progress.”