bchorn

I think it's funny that Region 12 puts the most bands in the competition yet only 2 are expected to make the finals whereas regions 18/26 put in only half as much bands yet both are expected to have more bands in the finals than region 12. Way to go Austin area bands!

Is there a mobile version of this website? If so, I'll be at the Area D contest starting around 3pm. Regardless, I'm going to post my thoughts on the finals on Sunday when I get back home to Austin.

I'm not sold on Akins or Westlake. Akins was fine technically at Westlake Marching Festival but their show didn't have any wow moments for me. I was pretty disinterested after I saw them. Westlake had a competent show but they were still a lot of drill problems that dragged the show down imo.

No Mapquest needed. Region 8 bands (Waco-Temple area): 7 Region 18 bands (Austin proper and cities south of Austin): 7 Region 26 bands (northern suburbs of Austin): 6 Region 12 bands (northern suburbs of San Antonio and cities north of San Antonio): 14 San Marcos is equidistant between Austin and San Antonio so I'll eliminate them from the discussion. That leaves 19 bands travelling from Austin or further versus the 14 bands staying at home for the contest. Figure in that the region 8 bands are travelling significantly further than anyone else in the area and that weighs the mileage travelled heavily in favor to bands from Austin, its suburbs and Waco/Temple area.

Any idea why all the Area D bands have to travel down to San Antonio for this contest? It seems like with Austin being centrally located to all four regions that there would be less miles driven overall by all bands if the contest was held in Austin rather than the northern edge of San Antonio.

Can someone explain the trend of having all female cymball players? I noticed three bands (Round Rock, Westwood, and Lake Travis) at the Region 26 competition on Saturday that had all female cymball players and just wondered what the rational/logic was behind this.

I was there last night. McNeil sounded fantastic. Stony Point had the most fun show I've seen all year. And Round Rock again was the best show of the day. RR will be going far this year.

They didn't do it last Saturday night when I went to the finals and I was there from beginning to end. I was listening for it as well since it was my first Westlake Festival in 20 years so I was eager to hear which bands had had success there since I left. Didn't hear it once.

Yeah, what

So I stumbled across this link of Crockett in 89 at the Westlake Marching Festival where they finished first overall. My how the mighty have fallen. Can someone please share what happened with Crockett during the 1993 show?

Unfortunately, I haven

Takigan, Thanks for the overview. I knew Williamson county was one of the fastest growing counties in the nation during the 90s but never really had an idea of how much it grew until you pointed out the difference in the number of high schools between then (4) and now (11 and counting). While Austin has the same number of high schools as before, I will say that the overall competitiveness in Austin proper has dropped. Yes, you have schools like Bowie and Akins but then you have schools like Travis, Reagan, Crockett, and Lanier which fields teams much much smaller than the ones I competed against back in my day. Of the four, Crockett was the only band that had a quality sound and a decent program.

So what's up with the amazing quality of the Central Texas bands over the past decade? I marched at Austin Anderson High School from 86-90 and back then the only school that ever advanced to State on a regular basis was Crockett. There might be an occasional school from suburbs but Crockett was pretty much the only guarantee. Now, it seems every year there's a guaranteed 4-5 bands advancing to the state competitions with at least one making the state finals. I know Austin has had a huge populating surge over the past 20 years (thanks to Dell). Did the other big cities drop in quality over that same time? I see that Houston and Austin don't share the same Area any more. Sorry to be a newb. I haven't really paid much attention to local marching bands since I graduated so when I returned this year I was surpised how much everything has changed for the better (except for poor ole Crockett).