Panther Marching Band hits high note, racks up the trophies at weekend event

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

The Panther Marching Band racked up the accolades over the weekend during the Monroe City Marching Band Invitational, in Monroe City, Mo.

The band brought home 13 trophies from the all-day event, which featured over 1,400 musicians from 24 schools. The event included a parade and field show competition, as well as indoor drumline and color guard competitions.

?It was really just a great day,? said DePriest. ?A big credit goes to the kids because they work so very hard. It?s nice to see the kids get some payback.?

The Panthers placed first in the field show competition and also received a division one rating for their Color and Lights show, which features music from ?Sunday?s in the Park with George.?

In the field show competition, the band also took home caption awards for best drumline, best color guard and best drum majors, for Sidney Taylor and Caitlyn DePriest.

DePriest said in Missouri the band is categorized as a 4A school and competed against school with student populations averaging between 620 to 900 students.

They took second place in the parade portion of the competition.

The band also took a Division One rating for the parade contest, as well as the three caption awards for best drumline, color guard and drum majors.

Mt. Pleasant also took first place in both the indoor drumline and indoor color guard competitions. To top it off, the Marching Panthers brought home the Fan Favorite Award. ?That was fun, people put money into a jar for their favorite band,? DePriest said explaining how the award was determined. ?I don?t know if that?s just our parents coughing it up for us or if people really liked us, I don?t know.?

DePriest said he and the students had an amazing experience down in Missouri. ?The people down there are so friendly and so nice. I think we all just had a really good day,? he said.

?We?ve actually had two really nice weekends,? said DePriest. ?The weekend before we went to Linn-Mar in the morning and we went to Marion at night.?

At Linn-Mar the band finished second in their class, which is 3A in Iowa, out of nine bands. And at Marion they also took second place out of eight bands. In both competitions, the Panthers took best drum major and at Marion, they captured the best color guard award.

The Panther Marching Band is comprised of 192 members, which includes 30 in the color guard. Jim DePriest is the director, with assistance from Laura Westfall, Adam Creager and Ron Coberley. Marlene DePriest directs the color guard.