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Marching bands to vie for state title

By RITA FARLOW
Published November 15, 2006

GULFPORT - For the first time ever, Boca Ciega High School will be one of the host sites for the Florida Marching Band Class Championships.

Bogie will host the Class 1A and 3A preliminary round of the state championships from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the school, 924 58th St. S.

For the preliminary round, Divisions 2A and 4A will compete at Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, and 5A schools will compete at Tropicana Field. The top five bands from each division will advance to the Saturday evening finals at the Trop.

More than half a dozen schools from Pinellas County will compete for a chance at the state title in one of the five divisions. All of the schools invited to the class championships received qualifying scores at regional events held throughout the fall.

Last year, East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs was the local host, with Tropicana Field. Florida Marching Band Coalition officials decided to move the preliminary round to Boca Ciega to cut drive time.

"When they're having to travel from one site to the next, there's not a lot of travel time. They start warming up an hour before they perform," said site director Jennifer Treulieb.

Boca Ciega drum major Dan Shockey, 17, said his crew has been working hard to prepare. "We've definitely turned up the volume on little detail stuff we're doing," he said.

Can they win their division?

"There's some really tough bands in our division, but if we play our very best it's possible."

[Last modified November 14, 2006, 21:31:39]