16 September 2001

East Awarded Grand Champion at Lancaster

On Saturday, September 15, 2001, the East Marching Band received its first Grand Champion award at the Lancaster "Band of Gold" Invitational Contest. The band also received Best Auxiliary, Class C and Best Field Commander, Class C (overall placement was not awarded for these, although they did have the high scores overall in these captions).

Extreme congratulations also go to Nicole Ailstock, 2001 Drum Major, who received an astounding first contest score of 94 out of 100! In fact, in several categories of her performance, she was judged with a PERFECT score! Congratulations Nicole!

Other winners included: Waterford, who won second place Class C (as well as being the second place band overall, although no trophy was given) and Best Percussion, Class C (also being top percussion overall); Fort Frye won Third Place, Class C; Circleville won all captions in Class B and First Place, Class B honors; and Maysville was awarded Second Place, Class B.

Congratulations also go out to the winners of the second competition at Lancaster, featuring Class A and AA bands. These included: Berne Union, winning Best Auxiliary and Field Commander, Class A and First Place, Class A; Meigs, who won Second Place, Class A; Teays Valley won Best Percussion, Class A and Third Place, Class A; Beavercreek won Best Auxiliary and Best Percussion, Class AA and First Place, Class AA; Marietta received Second Place, Class AA; Reynoldsburg was awarded Third Place, Class AA honors; and Fairborn received Best Field Commander(s), Class AA.

Also note that Beavercreek received Grand Champion honors, as well as a total sweep in the overall caption awards that were given at the close of the contest (all bands, including Class C and B were included in the overall caption awards). Congratulations Beavercreek, on your extreme accomplishment.

Also, congratulations to all competing bands. Rarely does one get to see a competitive field that is at as fantastic at all levels as seen at Lancaster. With every performance, the spectator knew that the 2001 season would be one of the best in recent memory. Thank you to everybody for giving our little corner of the nation a moment of enjoyment in the face of national tragedy. Good luck with the remainder of your 2001 season, and God Bless.