It was so intense that you could almost see the last five months of preparation draining from their faces and instruments as they played.
But on Nov. 1 at Spartanburg High School in Upstate South Carolina, the Wando High Marching Band once again showed its true colors by winning a state record 16th State Marching Championship. The Warriors broke their own previous mark of 15 by beating out 11 other finalists and narrowly edging Upstate favorite Byrnes High by a score of 95.15 to 93.4.
“The show was outstanding in every way – the students truly brought it to life,” said longtime band assistant director Lanie Radecke, who has helped guide 15 of the Warriors’ championships. “The design both musically and visually were beautifully imagined, and the students continued to build consistency throughout the season which translated into wonderful, artistic performances.”
Bands were judged in six areas: music performance individual, music performance ensemble, visual performance individual, visual performance ensemble, overall music effect and overall visual effect.
From their opening notes, the 182 marching Warriors not only played and grooved and turned like one celestial organism, their purple, orange, black and yellow colors seemed to magically transform them with invisible brushstrokes into a large moving painting.
“The bands have the opportunity to march twice at the state competition,” said band director Bobby Lambert. “All march once, and a second time if they make finals.”
By the time it was over, however, all the sweat, sacrifice, blisters and sunburn from preparing on hot summer days finally came to fruition as the Warriors stood together with nothing left in their systems except a few cells for relief and celebration.
Along with being named best band, Wando also won the Caption Award for highest score in music performance, visual performance and overall effect.
And although they have been here many times before, Lambert and Radecke stopped just short of naming this group as perhaps the best of them all – so far. “Each year, we have new members and lose old members,” Lambert said. “Each state championship represents the best of several classes of students, and there is nothing common about it. We are so proud of the students and all of their hard work going against some of the best bands in the country in our state.”
As for where the band goes from here, another banner and state record is likely waiting just around the corner, as Radecke pointed out that many members of this year’s championship group will be around for a long while to come. “The band had more young performers than we have ever had,” she said, “which makes the group not only special and incredibly resilient, but makes the future look exciting!”
By L. C. Leach III
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