By Traci Chapman, Managing Editor
Piedmont winter guard teams were unanimous crowd favorites Saturday, as they performed at Winter Guard and Percussion of Oklahoma’s March 19 tournament.
It was a good experience as members and directors alike head into state competition, scheduled for April 2 at Jenks High School.
All three Piedmont teams – middle school, junior varsity and varsity – performed well and earned support from those attending the March 19 contest, held at Southmoore High School.
Varsity placed second in Scholastic B competition, with a score of 70.860, while the junior varsity team came in fifth in a crowded field of highly competitive Scholastic Region A teams. Piedmont JV’s final score was 76.140.
Middle school and novice teams are not judged numerically, as are their older counterparts. Piedmont’s middle school guard is back this season for the first time since 2018, co-director Mikayla Byrne said Tuesday. This year’s program is entitled “Shark in the Water,” after the song of the same name performed by V.V. Brown.
Piedmont’s JV team wowed the crowd with their 2022 program, “I Wanna Dance.”
The district’s varsity team’s unusual program – “Rising Phoenix” – features music from League of Legends.
Piedmont – like other guard programs – last year faced challenges due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Last year’s JV show was particularly impacted, but the number of students participating in winter guard has rebounded, Byrne said, with 36 members spread between the three teams.
This season another challenge presented itself in the form of inclement weather that caused the
cancellation of two contests; despite those setbacks, Byrne said she and Traylor have been very proud of guard members’ achievements and the depth of the programs they have presented.
After winter guard winds down, Byrne and Traylor will prepare for the 2022 marching band season, with color guard tryouts set in May; band camp usually begins in earnest over summer break.
