Members of the Marching Warrior Pride’s color guard and brass perform together on one side of the field during Saturday’s performance. Photo provided by Cassandra Klinefelter.

By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — The Wawasee Marching Warrior Pride finished out its season with a third place finish in the Scholastic Class B State Championship held Saturday, Oct. 14, in Indianapolis.

Tony Pawlicki, band director, noted the only band the Marching Warrior Pride saw in both regular and state competition was Bluffton. The remaining 12 bands the Warrior Pride saw in state competition were from the central and southern parts of the state.

“The kids performed well,” Pawlicki said in an email. “Easily their best performance of the season. They very possibly could have won Saturday, if they would have had a performance slot closer to he end of the bands in our class.”

The Marching Warrior Pride was the first band to compete Saturday morning.
This was the third time the band had competed in state competition and the highest it’s placed. In 2021 the band finished 11th out of 14 and in 2022 it finished ninth out of 22.

The band did set a new high score for the season and for Pawlicki’s tenure with the program.