The Marching Band made their annual appearance at the Mizzou Marching Band Festival, a yearly event that features schools all around the state and is held at Faurot Field.. This year the marching band ran their show called “Me, Myself and…”.

The competition was their third competition of the year, and the band placed fifth overall, a title that many members of the Battle Marching Band said they were happy with.

“I’m happy with the result,” Robert Thalhuber, band director, said. “I try to preach that it’s not about the score because it’s an art form. As long as the students feel like they played to their full potential then we are happy.”

Thalhuber has been a band director at Battle since the school opened in 2013, and he mentioned that he takes pride in his band and what it has been able to do this year.

Despite the success of the band so far this season, Thalhuber noted that he is still preparing his band for their final competition of the year at Francis Howell. “We will use the notes we get from the judges but otherwise we wouldn’t change a lot,” Thalhuber said.

While for some people this was their first performance at Mizzou, for others it was their last. John Smith, senior, said the competition was bittersweet for him.

“I would say, I’m proud of the result,” Smith said. “As a young band going against older bands, I think we did good and that we should be proud of it.”

Smith, a two time competitor at Mizzou, also mentioned that his time in marching band gave him a purpose and said that he loves when the band can come together to show everyone what they have been working on.

Band members also pointed out that the team has more things to improve on before their next competition. Lane Story, junior, said that he believes the team can do better despite their successful competition on Saturday.

“I think we had a really good show in the prelims but we could’ve done better in the finals,” Story said.

The next competition will be held on Oct. 26 at Francis Howell High School.