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It's been said that Marian could miss quite a few years in a row now - I'm sure it will happen eventually - but I don't know if this year will be the year.

They're definitely gonna be in contention for a medal if they continue to improve from Austin. Wouldn't be surprised to see them take down Avon and/or Flomo. Winning Austin by nearly 3 points is no small feat.

I wasn't paying attention to that yesterday - which bands did it at Austin?

It looks like Round Rock is back. Can't wait to see them play the long game for Nationals. Wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see them place in the top half of finals at nats. It's going to be interesting to see where Reagan is at as well.

They totally deserved second. I don't know a ton about them but there was a lot of talk on the MFA forums about them.

Is it a Yamaha or a Getzen trombone slide?

Not even gonna touch this one until after Austin. It's so stacked and crazy that I don't know how ANYONE could this early haha

Leander and Vandy are definitely clean enough to give CTJ a run for their money - depending on how much CTJ cleans this week. I wouldn't give them the gold just yet but it does seem likely that they'll take GE.

I changed the order of my predictions slightly after viewing some more recent content from some of the groups attending. My predictions are submitted - can't wait to see how it all goes down next week.

I can't wait to see how CTJ does. I've seen some of their show and it's looking to be a great year for them - I think this year is gonna be EVERYONE's great year based on what I've seen.

Someone posted on the MFA forums that CTJ is playing it this year. It's one of the most common pieces in marching band, and for good reason. It's intense and super catchy lol

I almost forgot about Rouse. Yeah, they're definitely a contender

I haven't, but with their roots in great programs I think they really do have a shot. I saw a little of what they did last year and for a first year program it wasn't shabby at all.

I think they are definitely in contention for finals or just generally a good placement in prelims with their recent insane improvements. Pioneer, Tom Glenn, Westlake, Cedar Ridge, and more could all take that last spot I'm, but only if their prelims performance is really good. It's going to be hard with all 10 finalists returning.

I'm going to put some predictions out there. These are based on the little I've seen from these groups, plus some stuff thrown in for fun (predictions are more fun if they're bold right?) I haven't seen much of CTJ's show despite living so close, they're my biggest wild card right now. Leander and Vandegrift are VERY hard to decide between. If I had to pick right now, I'd say Leander wins Music, Vandy wins Visual. For funsies let's say CTJ takes General Effect. Those three in any order you please. Round Rock edges out Cedar Park for fourth, Bowie takes 6th above Hendrickson. Churchill and Vista Ridge fight for 8th, but Vista gets it. I feel like 10th may be a surprise, though it may just be Cedar Ridge again. I'll put Westlake there and I'm gonna throw Tom Glenn in the mix for potential finalists. 1. Vandegrift 2. CTJ 3. Leander 4. Round Rock 5. Cedar Park 6. Bowie 7. Hendrickson 8. Vista Ridge 9. Churchill 10. Westlake Music: Leander Visual: Vandegrift General Effect: CTJ

Can't wait to see how the 3-10 spots play out here.

Those last two blocks are gonna be INTENSE. The first block is also a great showdown between potential finalists.

I can't wait to see how this goes down, I'll be even more excited after the smaller Texas regionals, after we know what's really going on.

Rehearsing in Texas when it's 105° and 70+% humidity would be pretty awful I imagine. I wonder what Texas groups would sound like early on if they had the nicer weather that Midwest bands get... Cold is obviously bad too, but in Texas the 8 hour rule restricts most of the time that bands could theoretically get during the nicer fall weather.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Leander, Vandegrift, The Woodlands, and CTJ could all beat Flomo and/or Avon. I highly doubt that will happen, especially not all of them, but I'm VERY impressed with the quality I've seen from all of these groups. Even with Harvey, I think TWHS is capable of having another very strong season and it may even drive them to be better than ever before. I'd guess Vandy, CTJ, and Leander are all dissatisfied with their results from last year (Leander and CTJ getting 6th and 9th at nationals, and Vandegrift getting bumped to 7th at SA) and will be relentless this season towards improving. I think Ronald Reagan may also be like this, but I haven't seen anything from them yet so I can't say for sure that they're in the mix JUST yet.

I love TWHS! I hope y'all can have a great season even with all the hurricane stuff going on.

I'm really excited to see how Round Rock stacks up this year, they kinda got forgotten last year with the whole Flomo and Gnats bands craziness

My prediction for top 3 based on what I've seen: 1. Vandegrift 2. CTJ 3. Leander Music: Vandy/Leander Visual: Leander/CTJ GE: CTJ/Vandy I believe all the captions will go to these three, and each of them is capable of winning two captions. Whoever gets GE wins it but the margins will be slim. Very slim. I think Cedar Park or Round Rock could sneak into medals as well, especially with Round Rock going to Gnats this year.

I'm going to be very surprised if the top 3-4 stay in the same order from prelims to finals. All those LISD bands in one block... wow lol

Prelims Schedule: 7:45 Pioneer H.S., TX 8:00 Winston Churchill H.S., TX 8:15 Dripping Springs H.S., TX 8:30 Pflugerville H.S., TX 8:45 East View H.S., TX 9:00 Break 9:30 Cedar Ridge H.S., TX 9:45 W. Charles Akins H.S., TX 10:00 McCallum H.S., TX 10:15 Westlake H.S., TX 10:30 Hendrickson H.S., TX 10:45 Anderson H.S., TX 11:00 Belton H.S., TX 11:15 Ann Richards School, TX 11:30 Lunch 12:15 James Bowie H.S., TX 12:30 Stony Point H.S., TX 12:45 Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX 1:00 Burnet H.S., TX 1:15 Weiss H.S., TX 1:30 Vista Ridge H.S., TX 1:45 Lake Travis H.S., TX 2:00 Round Rock H.S., TX 2:15 Break 2:45 Leander H.S., TX 3:00 Tom Glenn H.S., TX 3:15 Rouse H.S., TX 3:30 Cedar Park H.S., TX 3:45 Westwood H.S., TX 4:00 Vandegrift H.S., TX 4:30 Prelims Awards Ceremony Finals Schedule: 7:45 First finalist band 8:00 Second finalist band 8:15 Third finalist band 8:30 Fourth finalist band 8:45 Fifth finalist band 9:00 Sixth finalist band 9:15 Seventh finalist band 9:30 Eighth finalist band 9:45 Ninth finalist band 10:00 Tenth finalist band 10:30 Finals Awards Ceremony Adjudication Panel Music: John Bell, Don Hill, Allan Kristensen, and Mike Rubino. Visual: Lee Carlson, Bret Mascaro, and Kyle Miller. Chief: Gary Markham.