Troy High School’s Winter Color Guard recently won first place in the Mid East Performance Association (MEPA) Indoor Winter Guard Competition at Northmont High School on Feb. 6.
Courtesy photo
Seniors from Troy High School’s Winter Color Guard.
Courtesy photo
By Jordan Green
TROY — Troy High School’s Winter Color Guard recently kicked off its competition season with a first place win in the Mid East Performance Association (MEPA) Indoor Winter Guard Competition.
THS’s Winter Color Guard is an indoor, competitive performing arts program. The competitive team is comprised of 12 students, five of whom are seniors. They have an additional three students who make up the Winter Spin Line, which serves as a way for future competitors to hone their skills.
To compete in Color Guard, one must master a wide array of skills including dance techniques, flag spinning, rifle, and sabre skills. Students then get to display these skills in a choreographed manner on a gym floor in a routine set to music.
This year’s show titled “Wonderfully Mad,” a nod to the Mad Hatter, was recently performed at Northmont High School on Feb. 6. The team was competing in the MEPA Indoor Winter Guard Competition, where they took home first place in their Scholastic Regional A category.
“Starting off our competition season with a win is always a great feeling. This is something the students have worked hard for, not only working hard on their skills/performance, but like any other team trying to compete during these unprecedented times of this pandemic, these students have shown dedication and resilience despite all of the obstacles these past two years has consisted of,” said Head Coach Andria Rodal when asked about the recent victory.
Winning a competition like this is not a simple task. Each group is judged in four categories: equipment analysis, movement, design analysis, and general effect. Within each of those categories are subcategories in which scores are given. The subcategory scores are totaled to give a score for each main category, and then the main category scores are totaled to give a final score.
“This is much easier to understand if you look at the score sheet,” said Rodal. Troy’s team received a final score of 71.120, edging out Xenia by a tenth of a point to take home first place.
This victory was earned through the hard work the team has put in over the past months. Starting in November with tryouts, the team practices at least six hours per week. Over winter break, they had their “Winter Guard Camp,” which consisted of three days of intense seven-hour rehearsals. It was during these rehearsals where the team perfected their skills and competition performance, as well as learned their drill spots and dance and equipment choreography.
The hard work did not go unnoticed by the judges. Based on their scoring and overall performance at the MEPA Competition, the judges decided to consider Troy’s team for a possible class promotion. On Feb. 9Coach Rodal received a confirmation that Troy’s Winter Color Guard team has been promoted to the Scholastic AA class.
“This will be a great new challenge for our students,” said Rodal. A new class means a new set of teams to compete against and a higher level of competition throughout the season.
Troy Winter Color Guard will continue to work hard throughout the remainder of the season. If you want to see them in action, they have an array of upcoming competitions to check out, including the following:
• Feb. 19 at the Nutter Center in Fairborn
• Feb. 26 at Trent Arena in Kettering
• March 4 at Springboro
• March 12 at Carlisle
Their competitive season concludes April 1-2 at the Nutter Center in Fairborn for the State Preliminaries and State Finals.
“The Troy Guard members have been working hard, and all of the students deserve recognition. Not many people know that Troy has this competitive team,” said Rodal.
