ROCHESTER, NY – Two high schools from Oswego County traveled to Rochester on Saturday (Feb 20) to compete in the Winter Guard International Regional Competition at Gates Chili High School.
At the WGI Regionals, Central Square High School (Varsity) and Oswego High School (Varsity) competed in the Scholastic A class, a group of 15 total schools from all over New York and one school from New Jersey.
Both teams qualified for the finals after a prelim score of 70.080 placed Oswego in fifth place and a score of 72.110 placed Central Square in third place, missing second place by only two-tenths of a point.
The first eight teams with the highest scores advanced to finals, giving both Oswego and Central Square a second chance to perform in front of the judges and the packed gymnasium.
Oswego High School’s Varsity Winter Guard performed their piece entitled, “In the Heart of a Monster” with the team’s eight members: Vicki Abbott, Abby Christian, Jillian Dowdle, Cierra Dunning, Cody Fadden, Alainna Mulvihill, Hailey Reed, and Sarah Reynolds.
For the third year in a row, Oswego High School qualified for finals at the WGI Regionals and this year
finished better overall as compared to last year.
Their finals performance improved from prelims with a score of 71.270 and was enough to land a fifth place overall finish.
Captain Sarah Reynolds, a junior, thought they performed “really well! Especially in finals,” she said.
Reynolds, along with freshman Jillian Dowdle and 8th grader Cierra Dunning all agreed that competitions like WGI Regionals are especially fun because they get to meet so many new people and groups and see so many different directions.
The Band Director at Oswego High School, Scott Ciesla enjoyed watching the routine come together.
“The coolest part for me, is that I’ve seen it in practice broken down but not the whole show. I think it was really phenomenal, it was amazing to see it all come together here,” said Ciesla. “And I’m really proud of their instructors.”
Oswego Winter Guard was directed by Michael Tierney, with assistance from staff Ali Sivers, Kait LaVerne and show designer, Ryan Bronner.
Central Square High School’s Varsity Winter Guard also took to the floor for finals, performing their piece “Waiting in Line” with all 17 members: Kiera Brill, Skyla Cieslik, Elizabeth Laribee, Anna Richardson, Breanna Clark, Paris Graziano, Alcia Helbock, Kelsey Johnson, Maddie Jurenko, Kelsey Doolittle, Morgan Graser, Cassie Metzger, Olivia Shaw, Alex Springer, Alivia Bird, Leigh-Ann Dence, and Anna Wight.
Their final’s performance improved from prelims as well with a score of 73.200, moving them up in rank from their prelim scoring and leaving Central Square Varsity with an overall second place finish.
Central Square took second behind the first place finisher, Victor High School from Victor, NY who finished with a score of 75.480.
Sophomore Kelsey Johnson said, “both performances were really good, spot on.”
Seniors Leigh-Ann Dence and Alivia Bird, as well as junior Morgan Graser, and sophomore Breanna Clark felt pleased with their performances, noting their favorite things about competitions such as WGI Regionals are all the people they meet and friends they make, the crowd response and the adrenaline they get while performing.
Both Dence and Bird said they will miss the friends they’ve met through Winter Guard and simply getting to perform.
All of the girls were filled with pride for themselves, their instructors, the JV squad and their school.
“Go C-Square! We are very proud of the representation of our school today,” said Graser.
The Varsity Winter Guard staff team included directors Andrew and Tammy Graziano, assisttant director Michael Mueller, staging and design coordinator AJ Mann, writing consultant Stephanie Waugh and additional staff Lily Hartmann, Dolores Hynes-Crowley, Cyndi Lowenstein, Jen Smily and Marissa Backus with music by Henrik Schwarz.
The Central Square JV Winter Guard competed in the Scholastic Regional A class with their piece “Flashlight”, finishing first place overall with a score of 70.380 beating Charles W. Baker High School from Baldwinsville, NY with a second place score of 70.340.
The JV Winter Guard staff team included directors Andrew and Tammy Graziano, assistant director Michael Mueller, drill design AJ Mann and additional staff Kristy Abbata, Kristin Crowley, Jordan Spencer and Marissa Backus with music by Jesse Jay.
Winter Guard Director, Andrew Graziano was very pleased with both Central Square team’s finishes.
“It was a great day for both groups (Varsity and JV). We are really excited for them and very proud of all of our kids. This is the first time the JV(SRA) has gone to a Regional competition in many years and the first time that any of the Varsity members have done a prelims and finals and made finals, not to mention coming in second place,” Graziano said.
Both schools returned home to prepare for their upcoming events.
Paul V. Moore High School in Central Square will host the Annual Winter Guard Home Show on Saturday, February 27 with a 4 p.m. start time.
Oswego will host the 5th Annual Snowflake Spectacular with Varsity and JV Winter Guard, to start at 5 p.m. at Leighton Elementary School.
