PIQUA — The Troy High School marching band earned a superior rating Sunday evening, Oct. 30, when it performed at the Ohio Music Education Association State Band Competition.

A dream that began for 102 Troy High School marching band members in the blistering July heat came to fruition under rainy skies Sunday at the Ohio Music Education Association’s State Marching Band Competition at Alexander Stadium in Piqua.

Presenting this year’s performance “Clue” – based on the classic board game and subsequent motion picture – the Trojans yet again earned a superior rating from judges, said a Troy City Schools press release.

“I am just so happy for these kids, because they have worked so hard to get to this point,” Troy High School Director of Bands Molly Venneman said in a press release. “A lot of people may only see what happens on Friday nights at football games or Saturdays in the fall if they come to our competitions. These kids start working in the summer, including a week of 12-15 hour days at band camp, to put together the show everyone gets to see. They work all through the summer and then after school once it begins. To be able to earn a superior rating shows these kids all the hard work they put in was worth it.”

Troy is one of only four bands to qualify for the OMEA state competition every year since its inception in 1980. To get to state, bands must earn a Superior rating at a local adjudicated competition throughout the fall. Troy qualified for state by earning a Superior at the Troy Marching Band Invitational, its first competition of the year.

“That was an amazing night for the kids,” Venneman said. “It’s not easy to get a 1 (superior) rating in the first competition of the year, because a lot of the time, you are just coming out of summer and still putting a lot of things in place. But these kids worked hard in the summer to make sure they were ready when the season started. I think that really set the tone for our competition season, and the kids responded week in and week out with fantastic performances.”

The Trojans then continued a tradition of excellence at state with its superior rating. Troy has earned a Superior rating at state every year since 2000.

“I think these kids understand the tradition we have here at Troy,” Venneman said. “They want to be a part of that. Nobody wants that streak to end. I know some people may view that as pressure, but I think our kids view that as an opportunity. They have the chance to leave their names in the history books and to continue a remarkable tradition that has been in place since before they were born. I think that just motivates them to work that much harder.”

In addition to Venneman, the band is led by Casey Layer, Megan Fulk, Kyle Miller, Emily Doles, Andi Wise, Sheri Baker and Shelby Holmes.

“We have so much support from our staff, parents, families and volunteers,” Venneman said. “It’s been a true joy in my first year as director of bands to be able to work with these people. It’s an amazing group of people who care about these kids, believe in these kids and want to put these kids in a position to succeed. As a band, we couldn’t have done it without these people.”

The Troy marching band consisted of 102 members this year. Those members are:

RaeLynn Alvarado, Sully Anderson, Addi Balbier, Allison Bensman, Autumn Bowers, Jenna Bryant-Arnett, Libby Burghardt, Dominic Burns, Andrew Condy, Ash Conley, Kenzy Copas, Sarah Davey, Mackinsey DeJesus, Alex Demoss, Dean DeMoss, Skylar DeMoss, David Elder, Leah Ellison, Mason Engle, Max Fong, Luke Francis, Isabella Freshour, Kaiya Godin, Dylan Greaf, Seth Greene, Jessamine Griego, Ryan Grody, Brooklyn Halter, Sera Halter, Ike Hampshire, Dawn Hampshire, Katie Hansbarger, Ester Hasbargen, Mali Hewitt, Lukas Hotchkiss, Jaymison Howard, Kyler Johnson, Rusty Kinstle, Eloise Kolakowski, David Lashchuk, Gavin Laughman, TaMeKa Lawrence, Dahlia Lazier, Corynne Lombardo, Gabriel Long, Victoria Lucas, Tyler Manuel, Jovi Masters, April McAlister, Olivia McElwee, Connor McGillivray-Sumner, Nicholas McKibbin, Kaiden McKinney, Joseph Minniear-Gebhart, Braydin Monnin, Jordon Monnin, Aden Nave, Garett Nave, Tyler Norris, Alexis Oldham, Izabel Olivieri, Sienna Osburn, Dhriti Patel, Adrienne Post, Alex Rammel, Lucy Remley, Theron Rogers, Layton Rohrer, Addisyn Russell, Zander Schilling, Roz Schilling, Alexander Sentman, Jesse Smith, Logan Smith, Erica Stacy, Lee Stanton, Catie Stapleton, Christian Stevens, Quintan Stevens, Sam Stormer, Natalie Tremblay, Alaina Troy, Leyann Tucker, Nicole Tucker, Justin Vaughn, Nathan Weidner, Katelyn Weikert, Ava Werst, Emily Williams, Peyton Williamson Josie Wooddell, Avery Woodruff, Charlie Wyatt, Mio Yasuda, John Yelley, Caleb Young and Emma Zonner.