Director says Medina band serves as great ambassadors for community
Provided photos: Medina band members wait for the scores to be announced and awards handed out on Sunday at the Carrier Dome.
Band narrowly misses winning state championship
Courtesy of Medina Mustang Band
The Medina Mustang Marching Band narrowly missed winning a state title on Sunday when it competed in the 44th annual New York State Field Band Conference Championship at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
This was Medina’s 41st appearance in the championship show. There are 52 schools in the Field Band conference coming from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Congratulations to the schools that offer and support this art form for their student body.
The day started off at 8 a.m. with the Dome Breakfast put on by the Boosters for the students and their families as a form of pep rally. From there the students, staff, boosters and all of the equipment and props travel to Hobart College where they practiced for several hours before heading to Syracuse for more practice and then their performance.
This photo shows the band forming a heart shape at the end of the show, which was entitled “With Every Heartbeat.”
The band was led onto the field by Drum Major Shelby Green and Assistant Drum Majors Madison Kenward and Brigid Keller.
In Small School 1 Division (SS1), Medina competed against seven other schools and came in second place with a score of 92.35, bested by East Syracuse-Minoa at 92.60. The difference between 1st and 2nd place was a mere .24.
First place scores for the other classes are:
• SS3: Roslyn – 80.85
• SS2: Phoenix – 86.40
• LS3: Corning Painted Post – 84.70
• LS2: Cicero North Syracuse – 90.0
• National: Arlington – 97.25
Jim Steele, Medina’s band director, commented that he feels totally at peace knowing that the Mustang Band went to Championships and performed their best.
“Regardless of placement these kids are great ambassadors for our school and our community and should be commended for their hard work and dedication to better themselves as musicians and more importantly, as people,” Steele said. “They again are all champions in my eyes. A heartfelt thanks needs to go out to our high school Principal and Vice Principal, Mike Cavanaugh and Kevin Lasky in addition to our Superintendent, Mark Kruzynski for attending the show with countless other Medina fans and followers. They all witnessed a top notch performance by our kids. Our Boosters are second to none and again proved yesterday that we are the luckiest organization in the world to have them with us. They too were true ‘rock stars’ last night.”
Seniors in the band are shown on stage at the Senior Recognition on Oct. 25.
