Did you know that the last time Mountain Crest high school won the state championship for marching band, before this year, was in 2014? People from the band were asked “How does it feel to win the state championship?” Sydney Stott answered, “ It was really surprising, but I’m really proud of the band for making it as far as we did.” Chase Chipping said, “All of my hard work and effort was put into a worthy cause for us to be able to win.”

They were then asked what their favorite part of the season was. Sydney Stott said, “The guy who wrote our show came from a different state to help us get better, that was my favorite part of the season.” Kenyon said, “My favorite part of the season was winning state my senior, because Green Canyon just dome were finally able to win. Also drinking soda out of my friend’s back pocket, that was fun.”

They were finally asked what some of the hardships and accomplishments were. Sydney Stott answered, “One of the hardships was that the color guard coach moved to France midseason, but an accomplishment was working hard every day and putting in the work to get better.” Kenyon said, “One of the hardships was time commitment, Mr. Yoder said we spent almost 1,000 hours practicing. One of the accomplishments was obviously winning the state championship, but it’s about the journey and the people that you are with.”

A little bit more about them. The marching band season starts in late June, they start to learn the basics of marching and start memorizing parade tunes. The marching band performed at the Hyrum Fourth of July parade, the Wellsville Founders Day parade, and the Mountain Crest Homecoming parade. In late July, they started to focus on their show that they perform at competitions. Pre-band camp was July 25th-28th and August 1st, they practiced 6 hours in total those days. Then, band camp was August 8th-12th and they practiced from 9 AM to 9 PM every day. During band camps they learn marching basics, choreography, music, how to march and play, and their spots on the field.

Their first competition was at Herriman High School for the Oquirrh Mnt. Competition, they placed second and got best color guard and best visuals. Then, they competed at USU for BBI, which the MC band hosts, placing 5th out of 13 bands. Then they competed in WFI at Riverton High school and got 2nd place along with best color guard and best visuals. The following 2 weeks their show writer, Marc Moss, came and helped them with visuals and choreography. The following week they got first place at American Fork High school, winning best visuals and Music. Then they competed at Davis High school and placed second, getting best visuals and tying with Sky View with best musical performance.

Then came finals, they left at 6 AM on Thursday and got to St. George later that afternoon. They stopped at a park nearby and had their last practice where they watched Wasatch High School perform their show and they performed their show for them as well. At finals, they competed against our neighboring schools, Sky View and Ridgeline. Mountain Crest placed first and tied with Ridgeline for best musical performance. The scores between schools were all incredibly close but MC’s hard work and dedication really came through in the end.

Overall the band did excellent throughout the year, rewarding their hard work and effort with winning the state championship.