This April, Mountain Ridge High School’s Indoor Percussion team was the first Utah high school team in more than 20 years to compete in the Winter Guard International World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. They were shocked when they then qualified for the semifinal round and finished in the top half of the 50 groups in their division.

“I went with the attitude that, ‘Oh, it’s our first year, maybe we’ll learn a lot from the world class groups or the other groups,’ but I was very surprised to see that we could stack up to the others,” senior Brian Stooksbury said. “Just from the very start, we set up ourselves for success by great teaching and practicing hard and we made it a goal every season to build on top of what we accomplished the past season, whether getting new awards or playing harder music, but we just felt like we’ve been progressing every season at a linear rate, just trying to get better every season and build on top of the success of last season.”

Percussion Director Cris Stiles knew the team had potential when he came to MRHS four years ago, rebooted the program and hired professional show designers.

“The staff and I realized, with this design team and these kids, we really have something kind of special,” Stiles said. “We started going back to the basics and watching how eager and how excited the kids were to take on some of those things—they were very, very teachable, and ran with what we taught them. So it became pretty clear to us very fast that we wanted to do something exciting.”

The dates of Winter Guard International World Championships fit their schedule so they began to prepare for the elite competition.

Delena Haywood has watched the indoor percussion program grow through two of her sons’ participation.

“The second Cris came into it, he made this band program something it’s never been before,” Haywood said. “The interaction he has with these kids and the way he teaches them, it’s his personality that he brought that has made the entire difference. He pushes these kids to do something better than they’ve done, or that they’re better than they think they are.”

Katie Vawdrey, who was part of the visual ensemble, said, “You can only do so much as a student without good staff, so our staff really makes the difference in us having the success that we’ve had.”

The students said performing at an international championship in the biggest venue they’d ever performed in, and learning from talented and experienced teams, was an amazing experience.

“In the staging behind the curtain, we were just getting ready and trying to get in the mindset,” Stooksbury said. “The energy was really high because we were in such a big arena. Everybody was like fist pumping and congratulating each other—just the energy was really high and the vibes were good.” 

When they found out they made the semifinal round, the students’ confidence crescendoed and they focused their energy on additional rehearsals.

“Those were the most productive rehearsals I’ve ever had,” junior Madi Condie said. “We were just really giving the performance energy and we were really working towards the thing, because we had seen these other groups, and we were inspired, and we were working towards semifinals.”

“Going on to semifinal, it was fresh, we’d done the work, sort of re-confirmed ourselves, and the kids had their absolute best show they’ve had all season,” Stiles said. “It was totally inspiring.”

The scene immediately after their semifinals performance was electric and emotional.

“Every single one of those kids were on cloud nine like I had never seen them before,” Haywood said. “They played their hearts out in semis, and they knew it, and they could feel it, and they were just elated. They were screaming and just hugging and high-fiving, and couldn’t believe that they just played in semis at World’s.”

The team will be competing in a new division next year, where they will take on harder music and face tougher competition.

 “We want to keep growing as an ensemble, making sure that we keep building on top of what we’ve been learning as a program, and try not to take any steps back and just to move,” sophomore Lillian Loertscher said.

Stiles said the financial and logistical support of the parents has been pivotal to the team’s success. Not only do parents cheer from the stands, but parent volunteers help move equipment on and off the performance area, create merchandise, organize fundraisers, manage uniforms and arrange meals.

“We definitely rely on the parents to help volunteer and come support,” parent volunteer Cindy DeNamur  said. “It’s not always fun just sitting around in the parking lot, waiting for the next performance and pushing things along, but everybody always signs up.”

For the world championships, a parent drove to South Dakota to pick up the props for the show. Others accompanied the team to Ohio to support them through long days of rehearsals and competition. One couple flew out last minute for the semifinal round when they heard the team had advanced.

“I’m not sure how it would be pulled off if you didn’t have the parent volunteers,” Haywood said. She and her husband Ronnie took on the responsibility of feeding the team at competitions and of towing the band’s equipment trailer to Ohio. λ