Elizabeth Kneisley
Staff Writer
After many long practices, hard work, and competitions, the Mira Costa Marching Band ended their season in triumph. The band has worked together like a family to perfect their playing and make their performance the best it can be.
They played at the Santa Parade on Black Friday, at the Manhattan Village Mall. Along with this parade, the marching band swept away the judges and the audience one last time with their final competition of the season.
“This year was a huge step for us. Everyone was completely dedicated and after our sweepstakes victory at our first competition, we all became more motivated to improve and keep it up. It was a lot of hard work, but everything paid off at the end of season when we received our highest score ever,” sophomore Kaitlyn McQuown said.
The Marching Mustangs played their last competition at Moorpark High School competing against Santa Monica High School and Granada Hills. The competition almost got rained out, but the show still went on and they had an outstanding performance and astonishing results.
“We came to the rehearsal thinking it was going to rain, so we didn’t practice for the show all day. But despite this and the fact that we were marching on mud, we still got a remarkable score,” sophomore Brian Zukotynski said.
The band marched in mud while playing their Coastal Waters show for the judges, where they were judged on their overall performance. Although the marching band came in 2nd in their division, they were rewarded with the highest score they’ve ever gotten- 82.8.
“I think we gave it our all. I’m really glad we went through with marching the show even through the mud. I have no regrets about the show or the season as a whole, and I’m really proud of our highest score ever!” junior Emily Harris said.
At the end of the competition the marching band formed an arc for the seniors called the “Legacy Arc.” The rest of the marching band played songs for the seniors from the Coastal Waters show. This has been a tradition every year after the last competition as a remembrance for the seniors for their time as a part of the marching band family.
“I think that the Legacy Arc was the first time that it hit me that I wasn’t coming back next year. It made me really sad, but proud of what I had been a part of for my high school career,” senior Ross Roble said.
Now that the season is over the band has been invited to march at a Disneyland parade on December 11th. They have participated for the past three years and will be rewarded for their hard work by being able to spend the rest of the day enjoying the rides at Disneyland.
“It was a truly amazing break out season for the marching band. We kept getting better and better and now we are getting recognized for our success and progress,” Marching Band director Joel Carlson said.
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