MCHS band marches to 1st at invitational

MCHS band marches to 1st at invitational

Oct. 12, 2000

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor


	THE PANTHER marching band, which won several awards at an invitational last weekend, marches in the Homecoming Parade Friday.

The Montezuma-Cortez High School Marching Band had its best overall finish in a decade at the Colorado West Marching Band Invitational at Grand Junction.

The last time the Panthers took first place in both parade and field show was 10 years ago, according to band director Rodney Ritthaler. But the band did it again on Saturday.

Cortez won the field-show competition with 83.4 points while Grand Junction High finished second at 78.3 and Central of Grand Junction third at 75.5. The Panthers played "StormWorks."

Cortez also had the outstanding color guard and placed second in the drum-line competition. Musically, the Panthers won individual performance, music ensemble, and general-effects music.

"I thought it was a strong performance," Ritthaler recalled about the Grand Junction show. "It was by far the strongest performance we’ve had this year. It was the best we’ve looked at Grand Junction in a long, long time. It was a very good experience for them. It showed them what hard work can do and how well it can pay off."

Ritthaler said he first heard ‘StormWorks’ done by the Fort Lewis College band, under the direction of Mark Walters, last spring and thought the piece by Stephen Melillo would be a good one for MCHS.

"StormWorks" is a collection of three pieces dedicated to living and facing life.

The pieces were musically arranged for high-school-band play by Scott Hickey while Jack Chambers wrote the drill. Mike Sherpa and Ritthaler collaborated on the percussion. Assistant band director Eric Ashton and color-guard coach Jessica Linde also put the final show together.

Daniel Puls and Brittany Johnson are the drum majors. Puls was a drum major a year ago as well. First soloist is Sam Cropp on the melophone. Sean Lavey is a soloist on the trumpet.

"The rehearsals have been positive," Ritthaler said. "They received their music in July and took it with them to band camp in Alamosa. We made substantial progress since then."

The Panthers will head to Regionals in Delta on Oct. 19. They won the district title a year ago and placed fifth at State when Ritthaler took over from former director Gary Hall, who is at Class 5A Loveland High School.

The Panthers, who are one of only three schools to have competed in the State Colorado Bandmasters Finals since its inception in 1981, will compete at State Oct. 28 in Denver. Preliminaries will be at Englewood High School Stadium with finals at Mile High Stadium.