By Elizabeth Benitez
With hundreds of eyes watching closely from the stands, sophomore french horn player Saul Morales confidently marched across the brightly lit field for the Midlothian Marching Contest.
The Golden Eagle Band performed the first and second movements of their 2015 show, Equilibrium. 22 schools performed and the top ten performed again for finals.
“It was so fun, but we could have done better,” Morales said. “I wish we could have made finals.”
Overall, the band placed fifteenth. Marching came in seventeenth, music was fourteenth, color guard came in eleventh and percussion in fifth place. The judges gave each school a critique on their marching, music, color guard, and percussion performances.
“It seems like we’ve placed eighth or tenth but we’ve never placed that high in the last three or four years,” percussion director Roland Muzquiz said. “The kids have been more focused on the music and have really done a good job of learning their music. They’ve done a really good job of developing their skills.”
The band has been working on their show since summer and have practiced every day before school since then.
“This year’s show compared to last year’s show is comparably phenomenal because of our spirit and how hard we work,” senior drum major Allison Sharp said. “What we need to do to make it successful is growing and growing every day.”