The winter guard team earned 6th place out of eight participants at the San Joaquin Valley Color Guard and Percussion Review held at Clovis East, Jan. 29.

The squad received a score of 41.8 points, a total of 14.7 points behind first-place winner Clovis High.

The team fell one point behind 5th-place winner Hanford High, and was followed by Arroyo High and Sanger High.

As this competition was the first of the 2010 season, captain Jessica Massie, ’11, said she is proud of the girls’ performance but plans to spend more time practicing routines.

“We made some mistakes; however, it was not horrible,” Massie said. “Like every guard [team], we have things that we need to work on. But mainly we just need to make our show longer. Our show was not finished so that cost us some points, but I am planning to really work on tricks to spice up our routine.”

Coach Lacey Miranda is working to prepare the team for the next show, implementing new moves to the routine to impress judges.

“It was the first show, so there were some bumps. But I cannot wait to see how much they improve,” Miranda said. “We are finishing the show and adding in some really neat tricks that I think will help add points to our score.”

Having completed the first competition of the season, Massie now knows what to expect from the opposing teams, she said.

“The other guards in our class had really good shows, so we are going to have to really step it up for our next show,” Massie said. “I believe in the girls, though, and I am confident we will do great.”

The next performance will be at Buchanan on Feb. 12. The price for entry is $8 for general admission and $5 for students.

For more information, read the Jan. 28 article, Clovis East to host winter guard performance.