At an indoor competition at Hampton this Saturday, winter guard placed first and indoor percussion placed second.

Junior Mason Gerendash, a member of indoor percussion, said the team only missed first place by .35 points. Throughout the course of the season, he said, their score has gone up significantly. “Our score in TIA has improved by nine points since our first competitions,” Gerendash said.

Similarly, the winter guard’s score also improved, junior Nyssa Kolocuris said. This competition included more schools in their division, which made placing first even harder. 

“There were more teams competing, which added to the challenge,” Kolocuris said. 

The guard’s score has improved three points since just their last competition — which is a notable jump. Kolocuris said their scores have greatly improved since last year, as they have placed first multiple times.

“Last year we were getting last every single time,” she said. “It’s gone really really well compared to last year.”

Indoor percussion has shared similar success. At the latest competition, Gerendash said they “did really good musicality-wise” and “were all very together.” 

Gerendash said it was a good run for everyone.

“I feel like as a whole everyone stood out. It was one of our better runs,” he said.

Kolocuris said multiple members of the guard stood out on Saturday.

“I’d say the four rifle solos did very well. Steven caught his quad that he rolls under — we were all very happy about that. He definitely stood out,” she said. 

Sophomore Sammy Hackman also did well, Kolocuris said, because she also “got her turn under her quad.” 

This year, the groups are competing in two competitions — TRWEA and TIA. This weekend is the TRWEA championships for both groups, while TIA championships will not be held until mid-to-late April. 

Before championships, the indoor percussion group plans to continue working to improve the show.

“We’re going to learn the rest of movement three drill and add a bunch of visuals and technique,” Gerendash said.

The winter guard plans to work on rifle and saber work, since the flag work is already very strong, said Kolocuris. 

Overall, both teams have had a very strong season, and things are only going to improve from here, Gerendash said.

“It’s really fun,” he said. “We’ve been really productive. I think this show can get us pretty far.”