New 'raining' champions: Sailor Lucas, Nitro band win top awards at Majorette Festival

According to the Laidley Field box office, about 1,500 people attended Tuesday’s event, not including the band members.

‘A dream come true’

Lucas, a senior at Herbert Hoover High School, said she’s been coming to the Gazette-Mail Majorette Festival since she was 4 years old.

“I’ve always loved coming, and it is such a dream come true to win,� she said.

Her name was announced as a finalist at the beginning of the night’s awards, along with first runner-up Emma Elkins from George Washington High School and second runner-up Ryleigh Toney from Capitol High School.

Waiting through the rest of the awards to hear the final winner announced was nerve wracking, but Sailor said she was cherishing every second.

Weather is a factor

Tuesday night’s rain, which started about halfway through the competition, made things tricky for Lucas.

“I didn’t catch one of my tricks because it was super slick to catch,� she said. “I just tried my best and just gave it all up to the Lord.�

In addition to twirling with wet hands, Lucas was dealing with a minor injury. Shortly before Hoover’s band performance, she cut her hand on her twirling knives. The knives link together and, during Hoover’s show, Lucas twirled them around her body.

After graduation, she said, Lucas hopes to attend Marshall University and major in biology. She also plans to audition for the Herd’s majorette line.

Former twirler is a judge

Kathi Holland Burton judged the Miss Majorette contestants and the feature twirler competition. Burton, of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, was a feature twirler at West Virginia University for seven seasons.

Burton said it was special to come back to the competition, as her mother won a feature twirling award for Elkview in 1952. Burton herself placed as a feature twirler for a few years for Hoover.

Before the competition, Burton said she was looking for smoothness, presentation, audience appeal “and maybe another WVU twirler� in the feature twirling competition.

For the Miss Majorette competition, in which the competing feature twirlers marched and posed down the field, Burton was looking for presentation, personality and general showmanship.

Nitro has fun

While Lucas celebrated with her trophy and tiara, Nitro’s band mobbed band director Rich Brooks in the middle of the football field.

The Festival Grand Champion was determined by averaging the scores in four categories:

• Percussion
• Band marching
• Band playing
• General effect

George Washington was first runner-up and South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä was second runner-up.

Nitro’s “Fire and Ice� show featured the contrast between two extremes, with intense first and third movements and a subdued ballad in the middle, Brooks said.

His last words to his band before they played were, “Have fun.�

“I try to tell the kids, ‘Regardless of what the outcome may be, just go out there and have fun because you can’t predict what the judges are going to do. All you can do is just play the best show you can and just leave it out on the field,’� he said.

Standing in the rain after the competition, Brooks said he was initially worried about the field conditions because of the rain since his show is fast paced. But his students later said they loved it.

“Honestly, I am just over the moon,� he said. “We’ve got a great group of kids.�

Traveling through music

The audience traveled the country and the world through the bands, from South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä’s Las Vegas theme, complete with field commander Savannah Pourfarhadi in an Elvis Presley costume, to George Washington’s Spanish-inspired performance, with auxiliary performers dressed as flamenco dancers.

Herbert Hoover’s band took its theme from the Dr. Seuss classic “Oh the Places You’ll Go.� Students lip-synced reading an oversized book to pre-recorded audio.

Other bands focused on fictional or historical places. St. Albans performed a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with a cabin in the woods. Riverside’s auxiliary fought to the death in “The Arena.�

Capital took a more abstract approach. With pink accents like auxiliary uniforms, bandanas and even drumsticks, the musical pieces told of moving on from heartbreak.

Sissonville’s band gave the crowd the gift of nostalgia with a Christmas-themed program, complete with a fireplace and saxophone solo on “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.�

WVU band closed the show

The Pride of West Virginia, West Virginia University’s marching band, was the guest performer of the night. As the university band marched onto the field, high school band members shrieked and applauded. The band performed its typical pre-game routine for a crowd huddled under umbrellas and ponchos.

Fifteen of WVU’s band members are from Kanawha County, according to the band’s announcer.