This season was a long one for the LHS Marching Band, as they made history at each competition they attended. As the marching season comes to a close, a recap of competitions is necessary and overdue. 

The band kicked off their season with the field show “Houdini: Unchained” on Sept. 17, where they attended the Pursuit of Excellence competition in Marshall, MN. The band rode back into town as the champions of this competition. Every weekend that followed was packed with performances, both in competition and exhibition. The following Saturday was a big day for the band, as they made history on the field at the Bands of America (BOA) Iowa Regional Championship. This is one of the biggest competitions a high school can attend, and historically had never been won by a band from South Dakota. That is, until Sept. 24, 2022.

“I knew we had the potential [to win BOA], but we didn’t really know how things would shake out,” said Daniel Carlson, LHS Marching Band’s head director. 

The band performed first in preliminary performance at 11:45 a.m. and last in finals at 10:15 p.m. All in all, this day was a long one for the Marching Patriots. They had left town at 4 a.m. that morning and did not return until 5 a.m. on Sunday. Despite this, LHS took first place in their competitive class in preliminary performance, and other awards presented included outstanding general effect, outstanding musical performance and outstanding visual performance. The band made history for the entire state by being the first group from SD to win a BOA competition. This year, 15 bands attended this competition in Waukee — some hailing from Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas. The closest the LHS Marching Band had ever come to winning the Iowa Regional was 37 years ago in 1985, where the band came in second place.

“This [level of achievement] is about what I was expecting for the band, it’s been pretty awesome,” said Drew Balta, the new assistant band director.