Band members wave to onlookers as they arrive back in Syracuse from band competition in Fort Wayne. The band qualified for state competition on Oct. 19.

Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — If you happened to be in the North Webster and Syracuse area between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday you may have heard a lot of sirens. The occasion was a celebration honoring the Wawasee High School Warrior Marching Pride qualifying for state competition.

Police and fire escorted the band from North Webster to the high school when the two bus loads of band members returned from competition at Homestead High School, Fort Wayne. The band not only qualified for state competition, it also received distinction honors in all three judging events, for the first time.

Band Director Tony Pawlicki stated the band not only qualified for state finals on Oct. 19, at Indianapolis Franklin Central, but technically came in first in its class at Homestead. He explained a band has to place in the top three — bronze, silver and gold — to qualify for the state competition. Wawasee received a gold rating.

Additionally, for the first time in four years, the band received distinction in general effect, music and visual categories. “The last four years, we didn’t earn distinction,” Pawlicki stated adding the band made a fantastic improvement in their scores of five points over last week’s competition.

Police and fire escort the buses filled with members of the Wawasee Warrior Marcing Pride, after qualifying for state marching band competition.

Now, it is waiting to see what time the band will perform at the state finals. The random draw had Wawasee performing first in Scholastic B Class last year. Pawlicki is hoping to draw a time later in the day. “Hopefully we will get a later time slot this year,” he said. He explained when a band plays first thing in the competition, it’s hard for the judges to remember that performance through all the other bands. The bands who placed first and second last year, played later in the afternoon. However, Wawasee’s performance stayed in the judge’s memory as they placed third.

While the band will be participating for the fourth year in a row at the state competition on Oct. 19, they will also be participating in the Bands of America performance the evening before. This is something the band has done the last several years.

The band will be presenting a community performance of their competition show “The Red Brick Road,” in the near future. The date and time will be announced next week.