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BHS Marching Wolverines win regionals

Band competing in Albuquerque, Grand Junction in next 3 days

Christmas in July? Independence Day in October? Those living near Bayfield High School no doubt have had their fill of Christmas and patriotic music in the last two months, but it's all for a good cause: the Marching Wolverines field show.

On Saturday, for the first time in school history, BHS took a stunning first-place award at regionals in Grand Junction. All of the band members' hard work culminates this weekend and Monday at two more competitions more than 400 miles apart.

On Saturday, they compete at the Zia Marching Band Fiesta at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

After coming home for a night, the 61 band members travel to Grand Junction on Sunday and compete at 9:15 a.m. Monday morning against five other bands in the state semi-finals 1A category of the Colorado Bandmasters Association State Championships. The top three bands move into the 1A finals late Monday afternoon.

This year's show theme for BHS is "Uncle Sam vs. Santa Claus."

"Each year, the marching band has a theme for their field show," explained Derek Smith, director of the BHS band. Smith said he and his wife, Kristi, came up with the idea of a battle of the holidays. The show uses popular music heard at two special times of year, Independence Day and Christmas. The show features hummable tunes such as "You're a Grand Old Flag," "America The Beautiful," the songs of all five military branches, "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls," and "Silent Night."

Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, portrayed by senior alto sax players Colton Stumpf and Alex Svanes, battle for the hearts and minds of the band and audience. Along the way, the rivals are reminded of the true meaning of both holidays.

"I like to do shows that are fun and easy to understand," Smith said of the show concept. "A lot of bands' shows are pretty cerebral, with music that is impressive but not very memorable. Sometimes it costs us points with the judges, but at the end of the day, crowds from all over the state are always talking about Bayfield shows with a smile."

In addition to the audience, the band will perform before seven judges at each competition. Each judge handles a specific aspect of the show (music individual, or visual general effect, for example). These scores are compiled into a numerical score to determine placement. In regional competition, the Marching Wolverines scored 52.55, ahead of perennial rival Cedaredge (50.30) to take first in the Western region for the first time in school history. Bayfield is ranked second overall in the state for 1A bands, behind 2015 champion Estes Park, which scored 54.35 points.

The band hopes to score a 60 points or higher in the state semi-finals to make their way to the finals. That score would be competitive with strong rival 1A bands Cedaredge, Estes Park and Monte Vista.

"Last year, we had a very strong show with a great performance, but we came up short in the Music Individual category," Smith explained. "Estes and Cedaredge beat us out for first and second place."

While it was a strong finish, band members were disappointed, and that is still fresh in Lenka Doskocil's mind. She's the band's senior drum major.

"This year, everyone needs to take ownership of their music, so we can get those points back!" she said to the band after viewing the video of the regional performance.

Doskocil and Savannah Kaufmann, the junior drum major, will lead the Wolverines onto the field at both competitions.

Smith is assisted this season by Rachel Phelps, John Patton, and Sharon Hunter. This year's band includes 12 athletes from sports at BHS, and one student from Ignacio High School.

The Marching Wolverines will depart at 1 p.m. on Sunday for the state competition. Fans and supporters are encouraged to show up at the roundabout on County Road 501 to send them off!

Additional information on Colorado Bandmasters Association and marching competitions is at cbamarching.com