Band Places 10th In Preliminaries

Two Van Zandt County schools did enjoy the same success at the UIL State Marching Contest in 2008 that they did in 2006.

The Canton and Wills Point marching bands went to San Antonio this week as the reigning gold and silver medal bands. On Monday, Canton won bronze, however, Wills Point did not advance to the finals.

Wills Point placed 10th in the preliminaries of the competition. Of the 20 bands, only seven advance to the finals.

Argyle High School was awarded the gold medal, followed by Rio Hondo High School and Canton High School. Princeton placed fourth, Atlanta placed fifth, New Boston sixth and Burnet placed seventh.

"The band did not perform its best in the preliminary competition," band director John Young said. "We understand that we set extremely high expectations upon ourselves and are disappointed when we do not meet them in our performances. We cannot expect to be the best if we do not expect the best performance each time.

"Our students are the best young adults in the state of Texas who work together to perform at an extremely high level. Being placed 10th in the State is a compliment to our band program. There are 150 bands that started this journey and we were proud to be one of the 20 selected.

"This year has allowed us to challenge ourselves and require hard work and dedication beyond any other marching season," Young continued. "We plan to continue to challenge our students to grow as a band program and as young adults.

"We are extremely proud of our friends to the south in Canton receiving the bronze medal for their performance," he added. "Congratulations to them and their directors.

"Our program could not be what it is without the tireless work of our parents, boosters and administration. It requires many hours of service from these groups for us to do our job on the field and in the band hall."

The band will now turn its attention to preparations for all region, concert season, solo and ensembles and the dinner concert.