Our goal was semi's...

[jensizzle]

After getting the gold medal at circuit championships, University headed to the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio for the 2nd year in a row. When we went last year it was truly for the experience to see these world famous guards everyone always talks about. This year we went with a goal in our mind...qualify for semi-finals. Out of the 134 guards going to World Championships we were ranked 30th going in. The guard had a great prelims run and placed 2nd in their round with 89.7 and beat a few guards ranked ahead of them. Because we were in the top 3 it automatically meant we had made it to semi's!!! The semi's venue was very weird...a convention center. The guard again had a good run but not as solid as the day before. We had already reached our goal but emotions were still very high! Semi's are broken down from 134 to 48 guards (4 rounds of 12). UHS placed 3rd in the last round with an 89.9. There were a lot of 89's and 90's so we thought we had no shot at finals. 3 schools were called to the table right after retreat. They told us there was a 3-way tie for 11th place. Wait, 11th place? They take 15 to finals. That meant that University, for the first time in history was a WGI World Championships Scholastic A Finalist. The emotions that came out that day are ones I will never forget. We only had 2 hours before finals started so we hurried to the infamous UD Arena. We basically got off the bus and went right into rotation. I have to be honest in saying that the guard was so nervous that they had made it all the way to finals they didnt have a great equipment warmup. We headed down the long tunnel of the arena towards the performance floor. We had one last peptalk before the last performance of the year. Everyone was crying and so emotional walking onto that floor. Whatever happened from start to finish really didnt matter because we were actually performing at finals! The winterguard ended there season with the best show anyone could of asked for. Even more emotions were let out after the performance which had to be one of the greatest moments of my life. University placed 12th in the nation at retreat that night. I never thought 12th could feel so good!

One of our parents bought the live webcast and watched the finals performance from Orlando. He also taped it off of his computer. To check it out go our website:
www.uhsguard.com
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