Undefeated drumming

Drumline celebrates first place at the NTCA Championships

Junior+Brett+Myers+focuses+as+he+plays+his+snare+drum+during+the+community+performance+on+Friday%2C+April+5.

Valerie Benzinger

Junior Brett Myers focuses as he plays his snare drum during the community performance on Friday, April 5.

The Lewisville Drumline won the North Texas Colorguard Association (NTCA) Championships Saturday, April 6, in the “Scholastic A” class. They scored the highest final score in their schools history: with a 91.288.

“The moment when our name was announced as champions it felt totally fantastic,” sophomore Shawn McConnell said. “It signalled the end of an era and the cherry on the sweetest sundae.”

Drumline finished off with two undefeated seasons within three years. They hope they can continue improving to become a better drumline and receive more recognition.

“Having two undefeated seasons in 2017 and most recently 2019 feels so great,” McConnell said. “It means that our name is nationally known and we are under the country’s spotlight.”

Competitions consist of four to eight judges who grade each ensemble by many factors including stage performance, music and effects. The comments left by the judges help teams build on success for later competitions.

“They grade our performance under a series of classes like music, music effect, visual and visual effect,” McConnell said. “These categories help them to determine which ensemble has the highest “wow” factor and overall player to player performance.”

Senior Markus Aguilar knows even though it is a team effort, he still enjoys being in the spotlight and is glad to help the team place high at competitions. He also loves performing for his family and people close to him.

“I play snare drum and it’s fun knowing you’re the best in a small community,” Aguilar said. “I love performing for friends and family. It [also] feels great knowing that I contributed a lot by being on an instrument that’s in the spotlight a lot.”

Throughout the season, the team had to work on minor details to become better then its competition, especially against schools with more resources than it.

“One of the hardest things of the season is getting the late season to be even better than where it was,” senior Rohit George said. “It’s all about the minute details and just making it cleaner.”

This win was the last of the season, which is a perfect ending in the eyes of the drumline. The drumline members want to continue the success next season as well.

“This season capped of a six month journey to perfection and the Lewisville Drumline has now reached that amazing goal,” McConnell said.