March 29, 2024

Creston drumline takes first, band fifth overall at Clarinda

CLARINDA — Saturday was a first for the Creston Panther Marching Band drumline, as the group took first place out of all classes at the Southwest Iowa Band Jamboree in Clarinda.

The band as a whole also scored well, placing second in its class in the field show competition and third in its class in the parade. Director Mike Peters said the band took fifth place of 58 bands overall.

“We had a great day,” Peters said. “We’ve won best guard before, we’ve won best color guard, we’ve won best brass line before — we’ve never won best drumline.”

Peters said the drumline, which has only two seniors, was the only band in all classes to receive a score from the judges higher than 90 on a 100-point scale. It scored a 91.

Peters also said the band — which has 105 members, 35 of them new, and is the largest he has coached in his 21 years at Creston — has come a long way so far this season.

“I always tell them our main goal every year is to get a division-I rating at the state contest, and we use this to try to prepare ourselves for state,” he said. “For our first competition out, to take the competition on ... I felt pretty good about it.”

Peters said looking ahead, the band has plenty to work on in anticipation of next week’s Valleyfest and Showdown competitions in West Des Moines and the Oct. 17 state competition at Glenwood.

“Our biggest thing now is to make it clean,” Peters said. “Eliminate mistakes. Eliminate all the little things that we’re doing incorrectly. Add some more nuances. Make everything tighter, make everything cleaner. Play with more musicality, march with more definition. That’s our biggest thing. We’ve got the foundation built, now let’s decorate the house and make it look really nice.”

The band will be looking for its 27th consecutive I rating at state this year. Peters said the hard work of his students and the support of the band “family” has made the band’s success possible.

“With that many kids there’s no way in the world my wife and I could possibly pull this off. No way,” Peters said. “What a great day not just for me and my wife and the kids, but really for the whole band family.”

Also at Clarinda, the Panther middle school band took third in class II parade. Around the area, Bedford took second in class 1A field show and fifth in class 1A parade.

Lenox took eighth in class 1A parade. Mount Ayr Middle School tied with Essex for third place in the class I parade.