Since 9 a.m. that morning, the marching band had been battered by rain and wind. It was 34 degrees in Warrensburg, Missouri. Their uniforms were completely soaked through. The mics surrounding their drum pit were ruined by the rain.
10 teams qualified for finals, but two teams dropped out to go home early. The audience was dwindling too; there were only about 50 people left in the stands of the University of Central Missouri football stadium.
South began their finals performance with a saxophone duet. Immediately, the UCM band members who stayed behind to support them whooped and cheered from the bleachers:
“Okay Saxophones! Slay!!” they yelled.
The college band students’ impromptu cheerleading pushed South to stay engaged in their performance.
“It was so quiet and empty, you could hear everything [the UCM students] said, which was part of why we did so well,” drum major Emma Kreuger said. “Every time a new entrance came in…or a cool piece of choreography or a neat visual effect, they just went wild.”
Despite the poor weather conditions, South nailed their performance. Shortly after walking off the field, band director Steve Adams congratulated his students and told them to go to the bus and get warm.
“He was like, ‘You guys are freezing. You’ve worked hard. Go back to the bus to get your uniforms off’,” Kreuger said. “But they decided to stay and watch the awards.”
Staying for the ceremony turned out to be worthwhile. South won first place out of 23 bands that competed. As the drum major, Kreuger was sent up to the judge’s tent to receive their award. As soon as the award was announced, she heard her bandmates cheer from the other side of the stadium.
“The best feeling in the world was running across that field with the trophy in my hand, not being able to feel my hands, and having everyone else in the band screaming at me,” Kreuger said.
Like their experience at the Tournament of Champions, South’s first place trophy was affected by the weather. As Kreuger darted across the stadium to celebrate with her bandmates, the plaque nearly fell off. The normally polished and shiny prize had big wet spots from the rain. But it was theirs.
