The Junction City High School Marching band competed in the Southern Plains Marching Festival Wednesday in Andover and earned a 1 (superior) rating.

“There were 24 different high school bands starting at about 11 o’clock and going on every fifteen minutes or so, and we received 1 ratings from the entire panel of judges at that show,” Band Director, T.J. Taylor said.

The band also received a 1 rating at the Central States Marching festival at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan back on Oct. 19th.

Taylor said that earning a top rating is a challenge because the band must coordinate the music and the drill,”The students have to execute the music from memory as well as execute the drill from memory and try to put it all together. When you have 140 kids out there the chances are somebody can forget something and get something wrong.”

He also mentioned that it takes a lot of practice beginning at band camp over the summer as well as throughout the school year.

Wednesday’s festival was the final one the band will compete in this year and is now transitioning into pep band season.