The Westmoore Color Guard at Putnam City Marching Classic

Saturday, Rachel and her Westmoore Color Guard and the Westmoore Marching Band competed at the Putnam City Marching Classic. A sunny, hot day, we'd intended to watch the preliminary performance at around 3:00 and maybe catch a few other schools but we got there an hour or so early and found the boosters could use a spare hand or two to get the things done that needed to be done so we pitched in.

(Emily declined our invitation and stayed at home. Guess she's had enough of sitting the stands for a while.)

In this heat - it was near 90 - making sure the band and Color Guard had plenty of water was the highest priority. We set out to find the Color Guard and found them rehearsing just east of the baseball field in their bright turquoise jumpsuit thingies. (Rachel's about eighth from the left.)

Well-hydrated, we left them to claim our seats in the stands. They took the field at around 3:00, and we were facing the south so we had full sun in our faces and little breeze. Still, it couldn't have been as bad as on the field:

(A side note: I'd had roughly this same view nearly 30 years ago as a student when I attended the Putnam City West footballs games. I never imagined I'd come back to see my daughter on the very same field.)

Yeah, I know, they're minuscule, zoom in ya' doofus - I'm shooting video with one hand and still pictures with the other and I can't steady myself enough to zoom in. I cropped the picture enough to focus the attention on what's on the field - who needs sky and the backs of spectators heads?

Doesn't do 'em justice without the music and movement but they were impressive. Impressive enough that for the preliminaries, they won best visuals and best-something-else-that-was-impressive. Though three other schools place first, second, and third. Ominous.

We helped out afterwards, passing around more water, and then doling out food - a catered affair by The Olive Garden.

They re-grouped, got some pep talks, and made plans for the evening competition. We couldn't stay but Clara got a call later from a very excited Rachel: They'd won first place!

Good deal. I'm amazed at these kids and all the hard work they put in. A well-deserved victory.

UPDATE: You can read the just-the-facts-ma'am version at NewsOK.com here and you can read Ray Sears' more detailed version here, with pictures provided by Ray.