IMcom-Josh

Following Abbie's comment, I also noticed that gap. Leander wasn't the only one I noticed that with as well as Brazoswood had a similar disconnect as well but where the individual judges scored low and the ensemble judges scored high. Certainly something was happening in transition from the field to the box. I didn't look too closely to see if this happened to many more groups though. Good job to all the bands though! Looking forward to seeing Woodlands, CTJ and Spring in Indy this week.

Multiple times would imply more than once which is true. And while semi state results are officially "unknown" due to some archaic ISSMA rules, but yes, Hawaii did beat Alaska Also, I too refer to Duncanville to Homestead and vice versa often. Both programs are great and don't do BOA. Plus, both seem to finally be progressing their programs to the more modern style that we are used too. I'm hoping (along with much of the rest of the state) that since the BOA Indy regional will be before the Indiana state finals that Homestead will FINALLY test the waters as it were and start to do BOA again. Their first show since 94. In any case, even though TX will only be sending three groups, they are some good groups and while I only have one locked for finals, I wouldn't be surprised to see the other two in finals either. With a great performance of course.

While I know several people in Texas don't particularly care, for those interested, these are the results from last nights state finals. Bands competing at BOA Grand Nationals this year are in bold. Class A 1) Homestead 2) Avon 3) Carmel 4) Ben Davis 5) Center Grove 6) Lawrence Central 7) Penn 8) Lake Central (6 point penalty due to timing judge error. Would have placed 4th otherwise) 9) Castle 10) Franklin Central Class B 1) Concord 2) Greenwood 3) Jasper 4) Northview 5) Goshen 6) Floyd Central 7) Plainfield 8) DeKalb 9) North Side 10) Munster Class C 1) Western 2) Beech Grove 3) Norwell 4) Concordia Lutheran 5) Edgewood 6) North Harrison 7) Heritage Hills 8) Gibson Southern 9) Fairfield 10) Leo Class D 1) Lewis Cass 2) Forest Park 3) Paoli 4) Springs Valley 5) Woodlan 6) Eastern (Greentown) 7) Mater Dei 8) North Posey 9) Monrovia 10) Bluffton

I don't think the question is if LD Bell is losing their edge or on the decline. If anything, I think it shows that several other programs are rising up to the level that Bell has achieved! Bell set the bar very high for several years and now we are seeing other bands match them. Even if they were "losing their edge", something to remember is that every band will have down years as well. Or if they were in a decline, bands are always more than capable of rebounding as well. Just look at Ronald Reagan. After a few dismal years (no offense of course!), they are really getting back up there. I believe that Bell has really pushed groups harder to improve so that they can achieve what they have which is one of the benefits of competition. I have to both agree and disagree with Lindsey at the same time. I agree that programs can't/shouldn't be dominating all the time but when you're the best (subjectively speaking of course), then you're going to end up on top (normally). I disagree that it is demoralizing to other groups. Do other bands get down when they don't quite match up? I'm sure members of the band will feel that way. But I think the majority of the members will feel determined to just try harder. Some may even think "Wow! We came within X points of (Bell, Marcus, Duncanville, etc). We are really improving." I know both cases of these are true in Indiana. You all know that Avon has won 3 GN Championships in a row (one I disagree with as well). They have also won 9 of the past 10 years State Championships (we have State Finals every year for every class). Does it get old? Yeah a little but other bands in the state have improved a lot because it's their goal to beat "the man" as it were. Homestead (non BOA band) has beaten every other band in Indiana over the course of 10 years EXCEPT Avon. That includes Carmel, Lawrence Central, etc. That is why they consider Avon to be their rival even after losing in every head to head matchup with them. They don't get demoralized and give up. They try harder to top their biggest rival and it has shown. Though Homestead's design still looks like it's from late 90's early 2000's, the performance and execution has improved immensely! I really believe this is the case when it comes to your continually improving bands as well such as Bowie, CTJ, etc. Could Bell be thinking this year "Oh we aren't going to GN this year so we aren't going to try as hard." Perhaps, but I highly doubt it. Bell is an extremely well run band and one that I don't believe would give anything less than their best. Sorry if I rambled a bit.

I wouldn't discount Lafayette, LA from making finals either. They did make the 08 GN finals and were a semi finalist last year at GN as well. This is definitely a great regional this year though with several worthy bands on the finals bubble.

I noticed that no had posted these on here so thought I would for those that haven't seen them yet. I know that many of you probably don't care but I'm posting them anyway! *Means they are going to the BOA Indy Regional **Means they are going to BOA GN Class D 1. Springs Valley 2. Forest Park 3. Lewis Cass 4. Mater Dei 5. Paoli 6. Northwestern 7. Eastern (Greentown) 8. North Posey 9. Southridge 10. Orleans* Class C 1. Western*/** 2. Edgewood*/** 3. Norwell 4. Scottsburg 5. Plymouth 6. Gibson Southern 7. Beech Grove 8. Concordia Lutheran 9. Fairfield 10. Heritage Class B 1. Greenwood 2. Goshen 3. Concord 4. Jasper 5. Northview 6. Floyd Central 7. Northridge 8. DeKalb 9. North Side 10. Bloomington North* Class A 1. Avon*/** 2. Lawrence Central*/** 3. Homestead 4. Center Grove */** 5. Lake Central */** 6. Warren Central 7. Lafayette Jefferson 8. Ben Davis */** 9. Penn * 10. Castle * And because I know none of you asked for this either but secretly wanted it anyway, here is the IM.com poll for the upcoming BOA Indy Regional. 1. Avon (IN) (P-6) - 90 2. Carmel (IN) - 80 3. Marian Catholic (IL) - 79 4. Lawrence Central (IN) - 72 5. Harrison (GA) - 65 6. Center Grove (IN) - 63 7. Centerville (OH) - 54 8. Lake Central (IN) - 46 9. Paul Laurence Dunbar (KY) - 37 10. Castle (IN) - 29 ----------------------------------------------------- 11. Lake Park (IL) - 28 12. Ben Davis (IN) - 23 13. Penn (IN) - 16 14. Hickory (VA) - 14 15. Norwin (PA) - 12 16. Lincoln Way East (IL) - 10 (Tie) 17. Western (IN) - 1 (Tie) 17. Naperville North (IL) - 1 Good luck to all the TX bands that come up this year. Look forward to seeing you all once again!

IMO, I think Bowie and Bell had their best runs in Finals. Marcus I think had their best run probably in Prelims followed by Finals. And I agree that I think Woodlands Prelims run was the best one they had as well.

HM went to Carmel simply because it was dirty through parts of it while the three I had listed were consistent throughout the entire show. Don't get me wrong, I agree that Carmel's brass was killer. But in terms of cleanliness, best technique, etc, had to put those three above. It is just my opinion after all too

K it is now posted for you to enjoy.

Again, these were just my top 15 from Friday. Just a disclaimer, we had left before South Brunswick and West Bloomfield came on. They were originally in my picks to make semi's but because I didn't see them, I didn't score them. In any case, some made it, others didn't, but it's all just for fun. Enjoy 1. 95.25 - Avon 2. 94.70 - The Woodlands 3. 94.00 - Bell 4. 92.70 - Marian Catholic 5. 91.50 - PCEP 6. 91.00 - Broken Arrow 7. 87.85 - American Fork 8. 87.50 - James Bowie 9. 86.30 - Owasso 10. 83.95 - Bourbon Co. 11. 82.20 - Columbus North 12. 81.45 - Clear Brook 13. 80.25 - Blue Springs 14. 80.20 - Forsyth Central 15. 79.90 - Bellbrook Now here was how I had Semi's breaking down. 1. 95.00 - Carmel 2. 94.75 - Avon 3. 94.40 - Bell 4. 94.30 - Marcus 5. 93.50 - Woodlands 6. 93.25 - Lawrence Central 7. 93.10 - Marian Catholic 8. 92.55 - PCEP 9. 92.20 - Broken Arrow 10. 91.35 - Centerville 11. 90.65 - Bowie 12. 90.05 - Center Grove 13. 90.00 - Lafayette 14. 89.40 - American Fork 15. 87.95 - Ben Davis 16. 86.10 - Owasso 17. 85.85 - West Johnston 18. 85.50 - Wando 19. 85.25 - William Mason 20. 85.00 - Bourbon Co. 21. 84.80 - Columbus North 22. 84.70 - Lake Park 23. 84.20 - Forsyth Central 24. 83.60 - South Brunswick 25. 82.00 - Lake Central 26. 81.65 - West Bloomfield 27. 81.40 - Walled Lake Central 28. 81.15 - Seminole 29. 80.85 - North Hardin 30. 80.60 - Bellbrook 31. 79.20 - Reeths-Puffer 32. 76.30 - Williamstown 33. 75.50 - Springs Valley 34. 71.75 - St. James

I'll give my top 3 IMO: Drumline - 1. Avon 2. Marcus 3. Center Grove (save for that WEIRD snare drop at finals) Guard - 1. Lawrence Central 2. Avon 3. Bell Ballad - 1. Marcus 2. Avon 3. Bell (considering the whole show felt like a ballad) Opener - 1. Bourbon Co. 2. Avon 3. Carmel Closer - 1. Marcus 2. Lawrence Central 3. Carmel GE - 1. Bell 2. Carmel 3. PCEP Music - 1. Marcus 2. Avon 3. Bourbon Co. Visual - 1. Avon 2. Lawrence Central 3. Carmel Extra thoughts: Brass - 1. Bourbon Co. 2. Marcus 3. Avon Honerable Mention: Carmel WW's - 1. Marcus 2. Bell 3. Marian Catholic Solo - 1. Marcus 2. Avon 3. Bell Honorable Mention: Greendale (WI), vocal soloist was a MAJOR surprise. Sounded great and beyond her years. Props - 1. PCEP 2. Marcus 3. Carmel Choreography - 1. Center Grove 2. Bell 3. Woodlands Most Unique Show - 1. Marcus 2. Bell 3. Broken Arrow Everyone was pretty darn awesome though.

Sure. I'll post it sometime later tonight. I have work and to finish a script for class tomorrow first though.

In the end, you can't control what 7 BOA judges think. Could I see those results taking place? Sure. Did I expect them? Not really. Here were my personal predictions on finals: 1 - 97.10 Avon 2 - 96.50 Marcus 3 - 95.30 LD Bell 4 - 95.15 Carmel 5 - 94.80 Lawrence Central 6 - 94.55 Marian Catholic 7 - 94.20 Woodlands 8 - 91.35 Centerville 9 - 91.15 Broken Arrow 10 - 90.40 Center Grove 11 - 89.90 James Bowie 12 - 88.45 Wando Congratulations to all of the bands though. They each did a superb and fantastic job this year! I can't wait until next year and hope to see some more great TX bands to challenge again.

My personal top 15 from Thursday today. WITH SCORES! 1) 93.65 - Lawrence Central 2) 93.60 - Marcus 3) 90.55 - Carmel 4) 89.90 - Center Grove 5) 88.30 - Centerville 6) 87.55 - West Johnston 7) 87.40 - Wando 8) 85.80 - Ben Davis 9) 85.15 - William Mason 10) 84.70 - Lake Central 11) 84.45 - Lafayette 12) 84.20 - Reeths-Puffer 13) 82.20 - Lake Park 14) 81.85 - Walled Lake Central 15) 79.55 - North Hardin Before you all go calling me a Indiana homer let me explain first why Lawrence is EVER so slightly above Marcus. First off, Marcus is going to win music this year. No question. If they don't, it's going to be a freaking travesty. They should break the record for highest music score in finals. No doubt in my mind. Now when it comes to Visual and GE, there is where it can get tricky. Marcus executes their show at a very high level. However, IN MY OPINION, the design and demand (Visually) of the show is not there. They perform the heck out of it and it is clean clean clean. However, Lawrence Central's show has a bit more to it. The drill design is about the same but the guard work is on a completely different level. So that helps put them over on visual. Then it goes down to GE. GE is the most subjective thing to judge and is very much left to ones own opinion. But Lawrence Central's show design is, again IN MY OPINION, deeper than Marcus's visually. Music GE is a subject to debate. But as you can see, I had them by each other in the closest possible margin possible. Certainly, things could change from day to day and these places could easily switch. It has been a very exciting first day and absolutely LOVE Marcus's show. (THANK YOU FOR COMING TO GN!) Tomorrow is going to be another great day. Some other great surprises was Walled Lake Central (Spy Games...fun fun show and the guard sells it), West Johnston (seeing your score from earlier this year didn't expect much but then you went out and played! Plus you played music from the recent Star Trek movie!!!), William Mason (expected a good show but you just improved even more from last year..keep it up), and finally Wando (while the show design lacks a tad, the music makes up for it in a rich dark sound. Beautiful).

Not going to go to some prelims on Friday? Just a reminder, for semi's 200-500 level is arguably the best seating in the house. Middle sections are 39-41 as well.

BREAKING NEWS! American Fork from Utah WILL be coming to Grand Nationals. After going through tragedy earlier this season, they will be making the trek to Indiana for a shot at finals after initially deciding not to come at the start of the year. They were able to raise $250,000 in practically two days for the cost of the trip. "It's just amazing," Miller said. "A band just backed out of Grand Nationals, just last week. When I called today, they could fit us in. We would play on Friday afternoon." We believe the band that backed out was George Rogers Clark from Kentucky and so American Fork will most likely be performing at 1PM on Friday. They were approached by BOA saying that they had a spot open for them if they wanted it. If nothing else, this inspirational story should serve a reminder to anyone that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Best of luck to American Fork this weekend! I look forward to your show!

It is certainly hard to compare the bands. Their styles are vastly different but both shows should please the crowd in one way or the other. It's going to be a very tight race in the top 4. I have (in no order) Carmel, Bell, Avon, and Marcus at the top 4 right now with Woodlands and Lawrence Central battling at the edge of that as well. You can't count out Marian Catholic either and their amazing ability to power clean so they will fight for a top 4/5 spot and you never know much the judges will like Centerville and we haven't seen PCEP for quite awhile as well so who knows what they will bring. One thing is for sure, this is going to be a tough tough Finals year and no matter what state wins (yeah...even if it is Texas hehe), I will be happy cause I have loved all these shows so far this year. The crowd is certainly going to be the winner this year. Also, Carmel's prelims time was moved last Saturday. They had requested it because one of their soloists was taking the SAT at the time. I was told they were supposed to receive a .5 penalty for it but then later heard they weren't penalized. In any case, the results are done and final so there is no point in worrying about that either.

All Finalists bands will be at GN. (Any band that doesn't have a State abbreviation below is from Indiana) Finals Results 1) 93.25 - Avon 2) 92.55 - Carmel 3) 90.90 - Lawrence Central 4) 90.05 - Marian Catholic (IL) 5) 89.45 - Centerville (OH) 6) 86.90 - Center Grove 7) 86.35 - Penn 8) 83.45 - Lake Central 9) 83.20 - Lake Park (IL) 10) 81.85 - Ben Davis Music - Avon Visual - Avon (tie) Visual - Lawrence Central (tie) GE - Avon Prelims Results Class AAAA 1) Avon 2) Carmel 3) Lawrence Central Music - Avon Visual - Avon GE - Carmel Class AAA 1) Center Grove 2) Lincoln-Way East (IL) 3) Castle Music - Center Grove Visual - Center Grove GE - Center Grove Class AA 1) Marian Catholic (IL) 2) Brentwood (TN) 3) Father Ryan (TN) Music - Marian Catholic (IL) Visual - Marian Catholic (IL) GE - Marian Catholic (IL) Class A 1) Union City (TN) 2) Orleans Music - Union City (TN) Visual - Union City (TN) GE - Union City (TN) Thoughts on finalists. 10th Ben Davis - This years show concept is much more apparent than last years (despite the abundant us of arrows then hah) and it's a fun theme. The drill is slightly harder but still leaves much to be desired. I prefer last years music too. More catchy. I was surprised by how low they scored since it seemed as though they had a good run. They should still be in the mid-teens come finals. My placing, 8th. 9th Lake Park - This is the best Lake Park I have ever seen live (which has only been about 5 years). The show is fun and the design is good. If you watch them, be sure to check out the "Wood Element" part of their show. My placing, 10th. 8th Lake Central - I am really happy about this group improving their placing from last week. The show design is just amazing (it's like LD Bell meets Broken Arrow)! I was finally able to see the show from a high vantage point and the guard is just even better with great drill design. The music is great too but once I saw it from the 400 level of LOS, I could see their problem. They just aren't playing loud enough! They have the control but they need to let loose when they have those impact moments and their score will improve that much more. Stop playing at a mf level! My placing, 9th. 7th Penn - Here's a band most of you I'm sure will never see live which is really sad really. They know how to play and a good portion of their shows would do great at BOA GN (an 86 in BOA is nothing to snub after all). It was great to see this show one more time especially from above. It made me appreciate it that much more. So dear Penn, PLEASE do GN! You would be a band in contention for finals! My place 7th. 6th Center Grove - I don't know why the judges aren't caring for this show. It has a great amount of everything in it and is probably my favorite Indiana show this year (who doesn't love the Ice Dance). Still, saxes tear from time to time and choreography can still be refined to be in time. I also preferred your old WGI ending haha. Watch out for your penalties too! They can kill your chances for finals and I really would love to see this show in Finals. My placing 5th. 5th Centerville - I have to admit, when I first heard you were doing music by Elvis "The King" Presley, I was really skeptical that it could be done but you proved me wrong and put out one of the most entertaining shows of the day. I can't wait to see this show again. You have great energy which is exactly what you need for this kind of show. I think everyone can appreciate this show and get into it. My placing 4th. 4th Marian Catholic - Marian Catholic is Marian Catholic. I have really enjoyed your past two show but this one is just meh for me again. I'm sure with your "power cleaning" it will look great for finals but it just isn't doing it for me. That's just my opinion though. The Miraculous Mandarin is certainly my favorite part of your show though with the trombones (but Homestead did it better still in 94 hehe). The design is solid though but I don't get the energy from the show. My placing, 6th. 3rd Lawrence Central - Here is a show you just either love or hate. I just didn't like this show at all at the beginning of the season but as it developed, it grew on me more and more until I saw it live once again at our State Finals. Your guard is probably going to be the best at Finals which goes to show why you are always tops in visual. I have you on the cusp of the top 5 at finals hanging at 6th place. I enjoy the new ending as well although the old one worked for me as well. Either way works imo. My placing 3rd. 2nd Carmel - WOW WOW WOW! Here was an unknown practically all season since they only went to one Indiana contest all season (first week out two months ago) and the improvement is showing. This show actually has demand in it as well! Both musically and visually. But with that demand, it is showing that you aren't used to it either. Very dirty (especially visually in the closer) at spots but if you clean, I honestly would not be surprised to see you take the Eagle this year. As much as I tried to not like this show (cause really I don't care for virtually any Carmel show), I simply couldn't. Plus they reach Drum Corps loudness at times too! Clean clean clean and you are fighting for a top 3 spot at finals. My placing 2nd. 1st Avon - Yeah we all know Avon. The music is great and your trumpets are GOD! You're more visually dirty than normal it would seem though (perhaps it is because of all the rain we have had this year forcing indoor rehearsals) but if the good weather holds over the next week, I could see that problem being fixed quickly. Other than that though, I think this show is practically maxed out sadly. It's going to be a tight race to the top. I'd like to give a shout out to the Franklin band from TN. Here was a band that surprised everyone and we thought could slip into finals. They played great and the show was fun. If you get a chance, catch this show!

Yeah that's the year. But that was after a .2 penalty on Westfield so techinically they won by .25. There were a lot of really close scores that year. Between 3rd, 4th and 5th with a .05 between Carmel and Kennesaw Moutain and then another .05 with LD Bell. Then their was a tie for 7th between Kiski Area and Avon plus they were only .35 ahead of the 9th place band Center Grove. Then between 10th and 11th was a spread of .35 between Marian Catholic and Lawrence Central respectively. If scores had been announced, I'm sure some type of riot would have broken out haha. I'll try to explain this as simply as possible heh. Indiana has 4 classes. You have to remember that Indiana is a HECK of a lot smaller than TX. You could probably fit about four Indiana's inside of you (fatty ). Our classes go A,B,C,D and are classified by school size (9-12) with A being the largest and D being the smallest. Every class has a state finals every year as well (none of this every other year foolishness ). The ISSMA process is as follows. Districts, Regionals, Semi-State (this was the second year we have had it), and then finally State Finals. At Districts, bands only have to reach a certain score to move onto the next level. The score varies from class to class with D being a 52, C a 54 and B and A a 60. Scoring at or above this criteria earns you a Gold Rating and advances you to Regionals while a score lower earns you a Silver, Bronze or Participation. Their are 7 district sites throughout the state in which all classes participate at. At Regionals, the ratings are given again in the form of Gold, Silver, etc but the points they have to earn have been bumped up by 10 (so A and B bands would have to earn a 70 instead of a 60 and so on). No matter what a band scores or their rating is , the top 10 bands in each class from each regional site moves onto semi state. Their are 4 Regional locations in the state. Two in the Northern half and two in the Southern part. This is where it may get a bit confusing. At one south and one north regional, you will have two classes compete there (it is always A/C, B/D) while at the other site the other two classes compete. This is to keep the size of the contest down so it doesn't run from like 7am to 11pm. This is often where we get a debate on which half is better (North bands or South Bands). So the top 10 North bands and South bands from each Regional in each class advance onto Semi-State. At Semi-State, the top 20 in each class compete. No ratings are given. The top 10 advance in each class onto state. Each class gets their own Semi-State site so there are four altogether and are held around the Indy area so as to try to make it equal distance for all the bands to travel. At State Finals, it's an all out brawl for the title! This is the only contest in which placings are given. Whew. I feel like I need a glass of water now. I hope you learned a little bit more. If anything wasn't really clear, just let me know and I'll try my best to clear it up. That it in a nutshell.

ISSMA's judging is very similar to BOA's but their are differences. ISSMA uses 6 judges. 2 for music, 2 for Visual, 2 for GE (1 Mus GE and 1 Vis GE). The two music judges each have 20 points and are added together for a combined total of 40. The same goes for the GE judges. The visual judges however, each have 20 points but those two scores are averaged together. So each Category looks something like this: Music - 40 points (1 Ind. Mus, 1 Ens Mus) GE - 40 points (1 Mus Ge, 1 Vis GE) Visual - 20 points (1 Ind. Vis, 1 Ens. Vis) So really, music is 60% of the score (40 from music and 20 from the mus GE judge) and the other 40% from visual (20 points from averaged visual judges and 20 from the visual GE judge). All you would have to do to make it just like BOA would be to add one more Mus GE judge and average the music judges.

This is the full Rep for Ben Davis. Opening from Mishima (Philip Glass), House of Flying Daggers (Umebayashi), The Forbidden Kingdom (David Buckley), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Tan Dun) As for ISSMA, they don't release scores because their philosophy is that we should focus on the hard work and achievements of the band and students instead of the placement. Think of 2003 when BOA only announced the GN Champion (cause yeah...THAT went well haha). ISSMA only releases the placements at state. The band directors can tell their students the scores if they want, but they feel that the public does not need to know them and strictly forbids it believing it will take away from the activity. Some people do still find out scores anyway though. It is a system that works though for me. That's it in a nutshell. If you had other questions, please feel free to ask them.

Accidental double post. Any ol' dang way, GN should be a great one! Good luck to all the bands.

HA! I'm sure they would. I also just thought that I would give the show titles for each of the "main" IN bands that will be competing at GN as well. Just in case anyone cared Avon: Show Title - comm-UNIFORM-ity Rep - Symphony No. 1 - Samuel Barber, Symphony No. 2 - Samuel Barber Ben Davis: Show Title - The Silk Road Rep - Music by Philip Glass, Shigeru Umebayashi, and Tan Dun Castle: Show Title - Twisted: The Music of Bernard Herman Rep - Vertigo, Psycho, Twisted Nerve, Fahrenheit 451, Cape Fear Center Grove: Show Title - Music Box Macabre Rep - Danse Macabre - Camille Saint-Saens, Ice Dance - Danny Elfman, Pursuit from KA - Rene Dupere, Requiem - Giuseppe Verdi Columbus North: Show Title - The Heist Rep - Original Music by Keith Burton and BJ Marks Lake Central: Show Title - The Journey Within... Rep - "Conflict", "Chaos", "Reflection", "Redemption" Lawrence Central: Show Title - To Begin Again... Rep - (Unknown)

Takigan, there are plenty of bands that don't do BOA that are just as good as the BOA bands. Same thing happens in your state too after all (see Duncanville). Homestead (my alma mater), hasn't placed outside of the top 4 at State finals since 1990 but doesn't ever do BOA events (oh how I wish they would). Just look at the results from last year. 2008 ISSMA State Finals 1) Lawrence Central (Finished 3rd at GN) 2) Avon (Claimed the Eagle at GN) 3) Carmel (Finished 5th at GN) 4) Homestead (Hasn't participated in BOA since GN in 93) 5) Lake Central (Finished 13th in Semi's at GN) 6) Penn (Will participate at the BOA Indy Regional this year. Last year they participated in BOA was 05) 7) Center Grove (Finished 15th in Semi's at GN) 8) Warren Central (Last participated in BOA in 04) 9) Castle (Only have done BOA Regionals the past two years but will return to GN this year. Missed state this year) 10) Ben Davis (Finished 10th at GN) A lot can happen in two weeks. Ben Davis made the biggest turnaround and improvement and then reached GN. Plus, don't forget (and I'm sure you haven't) how James Bowie failed to make the one BOA finals but then made GN finals. It just goes to show how great the activity can be!

I realize that many of you may not care but I thought that I would inform all of you who might. I'll only list the one class that has the most BOA GN attendees. The bolded bands are the ones participating in GN this year and I'm putting the class they will be in. Some of them, we won't know for sure until this weekend at the Indy Regs. For those bands, I'll put an * next to the class we believe they will be in. The more * you see, the more we are certain that they will be in that class. Enjoy Class A (Our largest school class) 1. Avon (AAA/AAAA**) 2. Lawrence Central (AAA/AAAA**) 3. Center Grove (AAA*/AAAA) 4. Homestead 5. Ben Davis (AAAA) 6. Penn 7. Columbus North (AAA) 8. Snider 9. Goshen *10. Lake Central (AAAA) * Lake Central's placing was the biggest surprise of the night with many people believing they should have been top 5. But hey, what can you do about some crazy judging. I think we have all been there, done that. I personally believe they will be perfectly fine in BOA.