“I never felt like we were together until this year. Something clicked,” said senior drum major, Kode Banwart.

This Saturday at the Linn-Mar Marching Band Competition, the Marching Mustangs placed first and won awards for Best Drumline and Best Drum Majors. 

Rushing to get home in time to prepare for the Homecoming dance, the Marching Mustangs left Linn-Mar before the awards ceremony. Knowing that band director Scott Weber and sophomore drum major Ellie Barkalow would return for the results, the rest of the band waited for an update. Then that afternoon, Weber tweeted to announce the impressive results.

“I screamed,” said senior Amaya Mahoney reflecting on when she first heard, “I teared up a bit.” The win at Linn-Mar was very important to Mahoney, who’s been a member of the Marching Mustangs since her freshman year. “It’s comforting to know we got this far,” said Mahoney.

Mahoney also said that the Marching Mustang’s win at Linn-Mar really showed how much the band’s hard work has paid off. “We’re going to go a long way,” said Mahoney.

Junior Megan Baumler said that this year she feels the band is completely different band and that now they are more competitive and driven. “We’re going to be striving a lot harder to win,” Baumler said, “Makes me interested to see what the future holds.”

Drum major Banwart was happy and shocked to hear of the news, but he was also wary of the band getting too caught up in the good scores. The Marching Mustangs still have three more competitions and Banwart knows they still have to keep up the effort. “We have to prove it,” Banwart said, “This is just the start.”