longhornsax

I would say that those odds are pretty are actually quite high. All biases aside, I would be surprised to NOT see all the Area D advancers in state finals. If you look at the past few 4A states...in '07, all 4 bands from Area D made finals. In '09, a relatively down year for Area D, 3 out of 4 bands made finals. Dripping Springs, the defending state champ, might be the fourth best band in this area. Hays, the 10th place band at state last time around, is probably the 7th-8th place band in this area. I'm more curious to see if Area D sweeps the medals (a possibility).

An interesting fact that I don't think has been pointed out yet, is that Area D is hosted by this same stadium. Explains why so many 4A contenders were at this contest.

Some observations from these reuslts: -Yet another strong showing from the Centex 4A bands. 6/10 finalists were 4A. -Vandegrift and Lake Travis are for real. Will be interesting to see the scores to this, but these bands definitely seemed to prove themselves. I was very surprised that Vandy missed Conroe finals last week and it seems they made up for that here. I had my doubts about Lake Travis, as I was curious to see if they could keep the momentum rolling after early success. It looks like they're leaving no doubt that they are making a strong charge at state this year. -The bubble spot(s) of 4A area D will be interesting. Looking more and more like CP, Vandegrift, Dripping Springs and Lake Travis will take the first 4 spots, but who will take the (assumed) 5th spot? Hendrickson and Connally have been back and forth this season. Amazing that one of these two bands will most likely (barring a 6th spot) miss state. Of course this is all speculation. Still a few weeks before all this has to be settled.

yikes

Schedule Prelims: 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Class AAA Performance Time Liberty Hill High School Liberty Hill, TX 10:00 AM East View High School Georgetown, TX 10:15 AM Lampasas High School Lampasas, TX 10:30 AM Giddings HS Giddings, TX 10:45 AM Class AAA Awards Ceremony 11:00 AM Class AAAA Marble Falls High School Marble Falls, TX 11:30 AM Elgin High School Elgin, TX 11:45 AM Lehman High School Kyle, TX 12:00 PM Rouse High School Leander, TX 12:15 PM McCallum High School Austin, TX 12:30 PM Canyon High School New Braunfels, TX 12:45 PM BREAK Hendrickson High School Pflugerville, TX 1:15 PM Vandegrift High School Austin, TX 1:30 PM Connally High School Austin, TX 1:45 PM Lake Travis High School Austin , TX 2:00 PM Clear Falls High School League City , TX 2:15 PM Cedar Park High School Cedar Park, TX 2:30 PM Cedar Ridge High School Round Rock, TX 2:45 PM Class AAAA Awards Ceremony 3:00 PM Class AAAAA Harker Heights High School Harker Heights, TX 3:30 PM W. Charles Akins High School Austin, TX 3:45 PM Round Rock High School Round Rock, TX 4:00 PM Ronald Reagan High School San Antonio, TX 4:15 PM Westlake High School Austin, TX 4:30 PM Del Valle High School Del Valle, TX 4:45 PM Westwood High School Austin, TX 5:00 PM Leander High School Leander, TX 5:15 PM Class AAAAA Awards Ceremony 5:30 PM Want a preview of Area D finals? Just show up to this thing between 12:30 and 2:45 and you'll get a pretty good look (minus a few bands).

Isn't it ridiculous that Connally is left off the outside looking in?? Lake Travis made an unbelievably stacked area even scarier.

Wow...Huge mistake there on the part of the guys running this competition. I'm curious as to how this could have possibly been missed? Gotta read the fine print. Disappointing for the kids at P-ville.

Gotta love the Cube!

Finally just made my predictions for this thing. This contest is waaaaaaaaaaay too stacked for just 10 finalists. Some really good bands are gonna be left out here. Should be really exciting!

I would say Reagan and Churchill are currently going in opposite directions. I feel like Churchill has been slipping as of late, while Reagan has rebuilt and reloaded. It's only a matter of time before they're back on top. If anything I would say Reagan is a lock, while Churchill might be on the bubble.

Probably one of my favorite moments in marching band...ever...

Just a quick analysis of how many will advance - had last year been a 4A state year, 26 bands would've been eligible to advance to area, meaning 5 would've advanced. Now of course that's based off of region results from a non-state year, so there's no telling how this year will differ, but the rough estimate is there.

Definitely interesting. I also don't think early USSBA contests prove to be much of a end of the season measuring stick, but the fact that Lake Travis not only edged Dripping Springs, but took the overall title, is quite an intriguing result. Lake Travis seems to be for real, and the video proves that.

I think it could be more than a possibility. It would not surprise me one bit if they made a real charge at Bell and Marcus this year. For a few reasons 1. This band has A LOT of momentum going into this year. It seems every year they get better and better. 2. The shows they put on this year will without a doubt be very emotionally charged. 3. From what I've seen, they have the package to carry them this year. Wouldn't surprise me one bit

After watching a video from CP from this past week, let me restate - It's gonna be nearly impossible to beat this guys. There are a lot of great bands in 4A this year, but Cedar Park is at the top of its game once again.

I was just wondering about that...

I thought the exact same thing when i saw the lineup...should be a really interesting contest

Agreed. Hays was the beneficiary of Connally and Vista not being there 2 years ago. Area D finals will be pretty close to a state finals level this year. Can it be October already?

The whole BOA vs. UIL debate is kind of pointless here because CP has succeeded in both systems over the last few years. But who knows, I can totally see neither of these bands winning it and Vandegrift taking it. Wouldn't count Connally out either. Also curious - what are the chances of Area D taking 5 bands this year? they've added VR, Connally and CP since the last cycle, which took 4 bands. Don't know if the area lost some bands though?

I actually think this is more of a classic battle between Difficulty and Cleanliness. DS marches shows that aren't the most difficult in the world, but they are insanely clean. Cedar Park marches a much harder show than DS but isn't quite as clean. I'll disagree with the previous statements though as I still think that DS will have a really hard time keeping up with CP. This is a Grand Nationals finalist after all...Should be fun though. Looking forward to it!

I actually disagree, I think there's a lot to be intrigued by, even in that poor quality of video. Should be a fun show. Anyone know the theme?

4 bands advanced from what I think was a pretty weak Area D last year (Dripping Springs, Hendrickson, Hays, LBJ). 3 bands of those bands made finals. Hays placed 10th at state last year and now area D adds 4 bands (if you include Vandegrift) that in my opinion are solidly better than Hays. So in the end you have 6 bands in area D that have made state finals in the past 3 years, plus Vandegrift. Add in LBJ, Lake Travis and Canyon and you have a solid state finals, let alone an area final. I'm hoping this area will advance 5 bands, although we're a long way from finding out if that will be possible.

great read!! Almost like I was there myself! Thanks for writing

I'm pretty confident that all 7 of those bands could easily make finals...The only thing preventing that is themselves. Are there other strong bands in the state that could deny that? Of course. But I will guarantee that all the bands that advance from this area, whether it be 4 or 5 bands...will make finals. I keep building these bands up, so they better live up to the hype

And Vista Ridge...and Rouse...pretty much everyone except Leander