Its musicianship and drill on solid display, the Claudia Taylor Johnson Marching Band won the Bands of America Austin Regional Championship convincingly on September 23 against an excellent field of Texas bands.
CTJ swept all six captions in the preliminary and finals competitions at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex in Round Rock, and outpaced defending champion Vandegrift by nearly three points on the judges’ score sheets, 85.05 to 82.25. Round Rock High School was third (81.95), followed by Leander (81.90) and Cedar Park (80.30). Fellow NEISD school Winston Churchill also made the finals, and placed eighth out of 27 schools.
CTJ’s performance of its 2017 show, “The Forest Through The Trees,” won the outstanding general effect, outstanding visual effect, and outstanding music effect in prelims and finals (CTJ shared outstanding music effect with Vandegrift in the finals). CTJ also was first place in Class AAAA after preliminaries.
The BOA regional championship was the band’s first since 2015, and its fourth overall. CTJ previously won the BOA McAllen Regional in 2015, and the BOA Conroe Regional and BOA San Antonio Super Regional in 2014. The six total caption awards give CTJ 34 in 10 seasons of competition. Additionally, BOA Austin was the debut outing for the band’s Amazon uniforms.
CTJ next takes the field on Oct. 7 in the 34th annual Rough Rider Marching Contest at Heroes Stadium, followed by the BOA West Texas Regional Championship in Midland on Oct. 14.
FINALS RESULTS
85.05 - Claudia Taylor Johnson
82.25 - Vandegrift
81.95 - Round Rock
81.90 - Leander
80.30 - Cedar Park
78.40 - Cedar Ridge
77.45 - Hendrickson
75.65 - Winston Churchill
75.00 - James Bowie
73.65 - Vista Ridge
Outstanding Music Performance - tie, Claudia Taylor Johnson and Vandegrift
Outstanding Visual Performance - Claudia Taylor Johnson
Outstanding General Effect - Claudia Taylor Johnson
CLASS AAAA PRELIMINARIES
1st - Claudia Taylor Johnson
2nd - Vandegrift
3rd - Round Rock
Outstanding Music Performance - Claudia Taylor Johnson
Outstanding Visual Performance - Claudia Taylor Johnson
Outstanding General Effect - Claudia Taylor Johnson