August 6, 2018 at 5:12 p.m.
Third in a row
JCHS finishes in No. 3 spot again
Third in a row
INDIANAPOLIS — For the third consecutive year, the Marching Patriots posted the best score in school history.
And for the third consecutive year, it put them in third place.
The Jay County High School Marching Patriots earned 91.6 points for their “Sideshow,” taking the No. 3 spot again Saturday at the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition.
“I’m extremely proud of the kids tonight,” said JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer. “We asked them to take it up a notch, and they did. They really did.
“They laid their hearts out there on the line tonight. That’s what they’re supposed to do. I just thought they came out swinging tonight.”
Noblesville repeated as the band day champion with a record score of 93.35. Anderson finished as the runner-up with 91.75 points as the Marching Patriots closed the gap after trailing the Highlanders by 0.675 points during the preliminaries earlier in the day.
There was a gap of more than three points between Jay County and the remainder of the field, as Kokomo (88.35) placed fourth and Centerville (86.275) was fifth.
After finishing outside the top five for four straight seasons, the Marching Patriots have set record scores in the third-place efforts during the last three years. They posted a 90.575 in 2016 and 90.75 last year before breaking the 91-point threshold for the first time Saturday.
The high score prior to the recent run was 89.8 in a second-place finish in 2006.
“It feels really great knowing that we’ve raised the level these last few years,” said senior trumpet player Joe Atienzo.
“Of course we would have loved to have won, but I think it’s really cool to see us each year growing and becoming better and better,” agreed senior drum major Kaitlyn Dow. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Jay County, which was also third during the preliminaries, posted its best scores for music performance.
The Marching Patriots were second overall with 27.525 points, finishing just 0.075 behind Noblesville. The judges were split in the category, with one favoring JCHS and the other giving the nod to the Millers.
“I’m happy aboutthat, because I think we’ve worked really hard on our music this season,” said Smeltzer, whose group had been third for music performance on both scorecards during the preliminaries. “And we had the players this year. We just had the players. So I was really glad for the kids to come out on top on that with at least one of the judges.”
During the finals, Jay County was third for both general effect and visual performance.
Noblesville nearly swept the Class 3A caption awards during the preliminaries, winning for general effect — Anderson and Jay County tied for second just 0.1 points behind the Millers — music performance, visual performance and auxiliary. Richmond took the caption award for percussion.
Centerville swept the captions to win the Class 2A title, and Monroe Central won four out of five captions to earn the Class A championship.
Smeltzer and Dow agreed that the Marching Patriots’ music was strong during the afternoon show, but that there was room for improvement in marching. They saw some problem areas come together in the evening.
“We’ve had a couple drill spots that haven’t hit at practice,” said Dow. “That frustrated us for a while. And they hit tonight. …
“And the music, the big impacts were crazy. … I couldn’t ask for it to be better.”
Saturday’s performance capped another strong year for Jay County, which won the opening competition of the summer at Centerville. In the only other competition that wasn’t washed out because of rain, it placed second to Anderson at Winchester.
Though they came up short of the third state fair title they have been chasing since 2002, the Marching Patriots walked away with a feeling of satisfaction.
“It was really good. I was really proud of us,” said senior mellophone player Molly Ault, hoarse from leading cheers on the state fair track. “We worked really hard all season … It doesn’t matter the placing, we all came off that field crying, happy.
“We’ve made these memories all year together. It’s a feeling you’ll never understand until you actually get to do it.”
And for the third consecutive year, it put them in third place.
The Jay County High School Marching Patriots earned 91.6 points for their “Sideshow,” taking the No. 3 spot again Saturday at the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition.
“I’m extremely proud of the kids tonight,” said JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer. “We asked them to take it up a notch, and they did. They really did.
“They laid their hearts out there on the line tonight. That’s what they’re supposed to do. I just thought they came out swinging tonight.”
Noblesville repeated as the band day champion with a record score of 93.35. Anderson finished as the runner-up with 91.75 points as the Marching Patriots closed the gap after trailing the Highlanders by 0.675 points during the preliminaries earlier in the day.
There was a gap of more than three points between Jay County and the remainder of the field, as Kokomo (88.35) placed fourth and Centerville (86.275) was fifth.
After finishing outside the top five for four straight seasons, the Marching Patriots have set record scores in the third-place efforts during the last three years. They posted a 90.575 in 2016 and 90.75 last year before breaking the 91-point threshold for the first time Saturday.
The high score prior to the recent run was 89.8 in a second-place finish in 2006.
“It feels really great knowing that we’ve raised the level these last few years,” said senior trumpet player Joe Atienzo.
“Of course we would have loved to have won, but I think it’s really cool to see us each year growing and becoming better and better,” agreed senior drum major Kaitlyn Dow. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Jay County, which was also third during the preliminaries, posted its best scores for music performance.
The Marching Patriots were second overall with 27.525 points, finishing just 0.075 behind Noblesville. The judges were split in the category, with one favoring JCHS and the other giving the nod to the Millers.
“I’m happy about
During the finals, Jay County was third for both general effect and visual performance.
Noblesville nearly swept the Class 3A caption awards during the preliminaries, winning for general effect — Anderson and Jay County tied for second just 0.1 points behind the Millers — music performance, visual performance and auxiliary. Richmond took the caption award for percussion.
Centerville swept the captions to win the Class 2A title, and Monroe Central won four out of five captions to earn the Class A championship.
Smeltzer and Dow agreed that the Marching Patriots’ music was strong during the afternoon show, but that there was room for improvement in marching. They saw some problem areas come together in the evening.
“We’ve had a couple drill spots that haven’t hit at practice,” said Dow. “That frustrated us for a while. And they hit tonight. …
“And the music, the big impacts were crazy. … I couldn’t ask for it to be better.”
Saturday’s performance capped another strong year for Jay County, which won the opening competition of the summer at Centerville. In the only other competition that wasn’t washed out because of rain, it placed second to Anderson at Winchester.
Though they came up short of the third state fair title they have been chasing since 2002, the Marching Patriots walked away with a feeling of satisfaction.
“It was really good. I was really proud of us,” said senior mellophone player Molly Ault, hoarse from leading cheers on the state fair track. “We worked really hard all season … It doesn’t matter the placing, we all came off that field crying, happy.
“We’ve made these memories all year together. It’s a feeling you’ll never understand until you actually get to do it.”
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