On Oct. 17 the Marching Lions participated in the University of Kansas marching festival, Heart of America. After placing 4th in prelims, the Lions stepped (or marched) it up for finals, earning the 2nd place trophy.

   LHS also received the Best in Music Execution and the Best Drum Majors awards.

   “I’m really proud of our accomplishments,” senior flautist Angel Lund said. “But Jones never lets us live in the moment, which is good. If he did then we would just get arrogant and suck at future competitions. So we have to keep working hard.”

   Regardless of how well the band performs at competitions, there is always room for improvement. Junior Drum Major Kelsey Schweer describes some of the internal problems that the LHS Marching Band faces.

   “I think one of the most critical issues that the band struggles with is staying consistent throughout their performance whether it be during a competition or a regular band rehearsal during the school week,” Schweer said. “This includes maintaining high toes, good posture, shoulders to the front, musicality individually and as an ensemble, etc. If everyone steps up and improves in all of these sections, this could increase our overall score significantly.”

   LHS’s marching theme was “Caravan, Journey Through the Sand” and Free State’s was “Water.” Sometimes it can be hard for band coordinators to come up with new, creative shows. One show that caught the eye of Schweer was that of Shawnee Mission South, which placed 7th in Finales.

   “Their show included a variety of excerpts from Disney movies,” Schweer

said. “I think their show mainly catered to the audience, and it was a fun show to watch.”

   The Lions and the Firebirds have a long streak of heated competition. There is always a comparison when it comes to sports, fields and even the marching bands. Free State placed 1st in prelims and finished with 4th place.

   “It was pretty evident that LHS and FS were extremely competitive, especially in their final performances.” Schweer said. “I believe that above all of the tension between the two bands, they kept it professional and congratulated each other regardless of placement in the competition, and I think that definitely showed a high level of maturity and true sportsmanship.”

   Junior flautist Peydon Church agrees that the KU band festival was no exception to this rule.

   “There is always comparison between Free State and LHS, no matter what anyone claims,” Church said. “We support each other though, despite what [you] may think. Yeah, we want to beat them, but that is part of any competition.” 

  This friendly competition intensified by a conflict last year. Free State beat LHS on a tie-breaking vote by the judges. Motivated by last year’s perceived snub, the band used the incident for incentive. This year Free State won the prelims, but LHS won in the finals. However, LHS eventually lost to Grand Champion Buhler High School by one-tenth of a point. The Lions beat Free State by two places in the competition.

  The marching Lions next travel to the Neewollah festival on Oct. 31.