Photo by Sabrina Pankratz The Marshall Tiger marching band took the field Saturday night for a judged exhibition during the annual Pursuit of Excellence marching band competition

MARSHALL — The Marshall Tiger marching band once again wowed the crowd at the annual Pursuit of Excellence competition Saturday night.

Students such as Kalli Anderson, a senior at Marshall High School, has been in marching band since freshman year.

“I just love the people, I mean (Wayne) Ivers is really right when he says the best kind of people are in marching band, cause everyone here is so friendly and so willing to work hard,” Anderson said.

“I like the group ethic of it, we all work together, we all want to get better, we all work towards a goal,” Zoe Vorbach, an MHS junior said.

The Marshall Tiger marching band’s show this year was about Amelia Earhart.

“We have a guy we have worked with from California, and I asked him what’s something you’ve always wanted to do before. And he said I’ve always wanted to do something on Amelia Earhart,” said Wayne Ivers, the Marshall high school band director.

Ivers said they started learning the routine and music Aug. 1.

“This year was all original music, the guy made it all up,” Ivers said.

Clinics went throughout the day before the competition for students to learn and improve their routines.

“You’re looking at a positive experience for 2,000 kids,” Ivers said.

“One band rewrote their whole routine, and learned it for the show last night,” Ivers said.

Anderson said she really enjoys the clinics.

“I’m a big fan of the clinics honestly, I feel like they really help. Even if we did just work on one chunk tonight, I feel like we really improve because of them,” Anderson said.

“I like being able to work on our show and be able to improve and then seeing all the different bands and their shows,” said Taylor Gilbertson, a junior at MHS.

Many students, such as Izabella Hunsley, a junior at Marshall High School, enjoy meeting different bands.

“We get to know all the bands that come. We get to watch and see how they’re improving and how we should improve watching them too,” Hunsley said.

“I love when bands come here, it is a really different atmosphere then up in the cities, and just shows how we can compare to them here,” said Lauren Buysse, a senior from Marshall High School.

“It was a good day, it’s always a good day when there’s good weather,” Ivers said. “Everybody was great.”

Pursuit of Excellence results

Gold Class

4th place: Sheldon, Iowa

3rd place: Lennox S.D.

2nd place: Harrisburg, S.D.

1st place: Anoka

Crimson Class

4th place: Huron, S.D.

3rd place: Madison, S.D.

2nd place: Mitchell, S.D.

1st place: Hastings

Navy Class

5th place: Sibley Ocheyedan, Iowa

4th place: West Central High School, Hartford, S.D.

3rd place: West Lyon High School, Inwood, Iowa

2nd place: O’Gorman High School, Sioux Falls, S.D.

1st place: Brookings, S.D.

Ivory Class

5th place: MOC Floyd Valley High School Orange City, Iowa

4th place: Central High School, Aberdeen, S.D. 3rd place: Irondale High School, New Brighton

2nd place: Roosevelt High School, Sioux Falls, S.D.

1st place: Brandon Valley High School, Brandon, S.D.

Platinum Class

Lincoln High School, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Sweepstakes Champion: Rosemount