For the first time in the history of Eaton’s marching band, they made it to state finals with their record-breaking score and then smashed their record once more at the championship to take fourth place with a 65.3 awarded for their performance “Embrace.” Band director Logan Doddridge said that getting into state finals really marked the band as being part of “the best of the best” and that playing from the heart and vulnerability really allowed that. He said, “They really had to not just march well and play well, but they really had to think about what that means to them and they had to think about what unity means to them, what adversity means to them, and really play from the heart.” Their performance emphasized things like unity and adversity since it had six different movements, which included things like Unity, Adversity, and Change.

Doddridge said that playing “willy-nilly” and going “through the motions” would not have been enough for the marching band to accomplish what they did. He said that they did not do that at the state championship, but instead “they finally made themselves vulnerable and they just played from the heart, and it was incredible, it was beautiful.”

Similar to Doddridge’s statements, Gabe Gerkin (21), trombone soloist, said, “We made finals because we were pretty emotional.” Junior Geoffrey Powell, percussionist and three-year marching band member, said, “Well, this one was called ‘Embrace,’ so it was like embracing each other and coming closer… At the beginning of the season for my drumline, we barely even knew each other, but we became colleagues, we became friends, we became best friends, and now we’re like a family.” Powell also said that this show “kind of felt personal and really touched us and moved us.”

Despite the marching band’s major achievement of making it into the final level at state, they had broken even more records before that. Prior to the band placing at finals, they competed in state preliminaries for their chance at the championship, achieving a 63.58, which broke the record they had set before preliminaries. Adding on to the band’s list of feats, they also won first place at the Regional Marching Band Competition on Wednesday, Oct. 17 before they contended at the state level. Breaking Eaton’s former regional record, they achieved their highest score ever at regionals to attain their first place position, receiving a 59.4.

The marching band has spent dozens upon dozens of hours to put the whole performance together and make it to fourth place in finals at state out of the seven bands that made it to that point. Once there, Doddridge said that it does not really matter what place you get since you have essentially made it up there with the top marching bands in Colorado. The band spent time during the summer, early morning practice and individual study to make it to where they did. Besides that, Doddridge said, “This was one of the youngest marching bands I’ve ever had, and they were very eager to prove that they were not young, and they worked so hard.” He contributed much of the band’s success to the leadership team as well. He said, “I would say that I had one of the best leadership teams I’ve ever had before. So, those upperclassmen, that leadership team, was incredible this year, and that’s a big factor of why we made it too.”