Some 4,000 high school band students from Missouri and Kansas, representing 32 bands, descended on the UCM campus Saturday for the 38th annual Festival of Champions.
This 14-hour event featured field competition, indoor drumline competition and indoor guard competition. Anthony Pursell, director of bands at UCM, said the festival serves as a recruitment event for the UCM music department each year, and a large amount of the money raised from this festival goes toward scholarships for the music department.
The UCM Marching Mules performed an exhibition with the world-renowned Boston Brass before the preliminary awards. The Boston Brass has been around for 31 years and travels nationwide and internationally to perform, according to the Boston Brass website. The band is composed of Jose Sibaja and Jeff Conner on trumpet, Chris Castellanos on horn, Domingo Pagliuca on trombone, and the newest member William Russell on tuba.
Gary Grigsby, “the voice” of the Marching Mules, was the announcer for this event.
Out of the 32 bands, 12 went to finals to perform in open class (regardless of preliminary class). The first and second place bands from all four divisions of all four divisions and the four next highest scores competed against each other.
Scores from preliminary competition are as follows:
 
White division:
1st: Winfield 72.85
2nd: Hermann 70.45
3rd: Basenor-Linwood (KS) 68.35
4th: Clinton 64.65
5th: Forsyth 63.80
6th: Warsaw 62.30
7th: Tipton 60.60
8th: Cole Camp 60.00
 
Grey Division:
1st: Liberty 83.00
2nd: Windsor 77.20
3rd: Pleasant Hill 76.10
4th: Lee’s Summit North 74.45
5th: Olathe West (KS) 74.15
6th: Staley 70.60
7th: Smith-Cotton 68.30
8th: Raytown South 59.90
 
Red Division:
1st: Blue Valley Southwest (KS) 89.50
2nd: Timberland 85.25
3rd: Hickman 85.20
4th: Shawnee Mission South (KS) 84.35
5th: Battle 82.95
6th: Park Hill South 79.25
7th: Warrensburg 76.10
8th: Raytown 70.25
 
Black Division:
1st: Olathe Northwest (KS) 90.30
2nd: Grain Valley 90.10
3rd: Nixa 88.55
4th: Fort Zumwalt West 87.50
5th: Wentzville Holt 83.90
6th: Fort Osage 81.90
7th: Lee’s Summit West 80.75
8th: Blue Valley Northwest (KS) 76.15
 
Scores from the finals open class competition are as follows:
1st: Olathe Northwest 95.10
2nd: Blue Valley Southwest 94.55
3rd: Grain Valley 94.05
4th: Nixa 91.75
5th: Hickman 89.25
6th: Fort Zumwalt West 88.95
7th: Timberland 88.20
8th: Shawnee Mission South 86.60
9th: Liberty 82.00
10th: Windsor 79.20
11th: Winfield 72.70
12th: Hermann 70.15