Countless hours have been spent developing and practicing this year’s competition programs for the Ada Jr. High and High School Winter Guard participants.

Practices have been ongoing since Thanksgiving last year for the Ada Jr. High Winter Guard, High School Rifle Line, and High School Winter Guard groups, which are under the direction of Jonathan Lischak and Amy Webb.

Photo caption: Jr. High Winter Guard, High School Rifle Line, and High School Winter Guard team members pose following awards at Central Crossing High School.

Pictured (clockwise from left) are Lyndsay Crouse, Justina Fuqua, Maddie Preston, Elizabeth Milks, Zachary Beckwith, Taylor Hoffer, Lexus Lunguy, Callie Young, Gabi Rall, Hailey Maier, and Caralee Stover. Not pictured is Lyric Jones. Photo by Cliff Maier.

This year’s programs are choreographed to the following selections:

• Jr. High Winter Guard: Hallelujah (by Vitamin String Quartet),
• High School Rifle Line: Bond in Bond (by Bond), and
• High School Winter Guard: Beauty and the Beast (by Jim Brickman).

The directors try to incorporate elements that provide the team with the opportunities to score well at competitions. Scoring is usually based on the use of equipment, movements, show design, and general effect.

The competition season began on Feb. 16, when the three groups traveled to Central Crossing High School in Grove City. For this event, comprised of teams from across Ohio and sanctioned by the Ohio Indoor Performance Association (OIPA), Ada’s Jr. High Winter Guard placed second with a score of 64.02 (the first place group scored 65.86).

The High School Rifle Line had no competing teams and took first place with a score of 64.93. The High School Winter Guard competed in Scholastic Open Class and also did not have any competing teams. They took first place with a score of 54.30. This was the first time the group competed in Open Class, which is devoted to an intermediate developmental level of performers and has more stringent scoring criteria than Scholastic A Class – the level at which the group competed last year.

On Feb. 22, the High School Winter Guard team traveled to Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis to compete in Winter Guard International’s (WGI) Preliminary Regionals Competition.

This time, the group competed in Scholastic A Class against 26 other teams from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. Ada competed in the third round and earned a score of 72.80 (tenth place), which qualified them for finals the following day. During finals, the team improved their score to 73.45 and once again placed tenth (the first place group scored 81.28 points).

The groups invite you to travel with them to their next competition on Sunday, March 9, at Springfield-Holland High School in Toledo (an OIPA event). The performance times are tentatively scheduled as follows:
• High School Rifle Line at 12:35 pm,
• Jr. High Winter Guard at 12:40 pm, and 
• High School Winter Guard at 3:58 pm.

Updates and photos of the group’s activities can be found on the Ada Music Booster Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AdaMusicBoosters) and website at www.adamusicboosters.org.

Additionally, the groups will compete at Avon High School (Akron) on March 23. The Jr. High Winter Guard and High School Winter Guard groups will defend last year’s state championship title on March 29, when they compete at the OIPA State Championships at Wapakoneta High School. The High School Rifle Line will also compete in Wapakoneta. The High School Winter Guard will conclude their competition season April 3 through 5 at the WGI Color Guard World Championships in Dayton.

The Jr. High Winter Guard participants are Lindsay Crouse, Callie Young, Lexus Lunguy, Maddie Preston, Lyric Jones, and Taylor Hoffer.

The High School Rifle Line participants are Justina Fuqua, Zachary Beckwith, Gabi Rall, and Caralee Stover.

The High School Winter Guard participants are Justina Fuqua, Caralee Stover, Gabi Rall, Elizabeth Milks, and Hailey Maier.