It was a busy weekend for the Winter Guard Program, with the Varsity Winter Guard traveling to West Long Branch, N.J., for a Winter Guard International (WGI) Eastern Championships Power Regional, and the Junior and Junior Varsity guards heading to a double competition on Saturday, March 22, in Stratford and Milford.

Competing first at the USBands Connecticut States show at Bunnell High School, the Juniors and Junior Varsity both earned season-high scores, with the ten Juniors from Reed Intermediate School score capturing gold with a score of 84.7. Despite having lost two members to injury, the 17 Junior Varsity members won the Southwest Conference Championship Class A title with a score of 83.9, and earned silver overall. The Junior Varsity show also received the “Best Effect” caption for their portrayal of the Indiana Jones movie The Crystal Skull.

The two younger teams then went on to Jonathan Law High School for a Musical Arts Conference (MAC) competition where the Juniors once again won gold with a score of 75.68. The Junior Varsity bested three Varsity guards to place fourth in a crowded field of seven Scholastic AA guards.

As they prepare for their trip to the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, the first week in April, the Newtown High School Varsity Guard traveled to New Jersey and increased their score by nearly 12 points from their first WGI showing in February to come within .1 of rival Norwalk High School in the Scholastic Open class. WGI called the performance, which features dance as well as the quality and quantity of weapon and flag work expected at the Open level, “soft and beautiful.”

On Saturday, March 29, all three Newtown guard divisions will compete in the MAC Championships being held for the first time at the Western Connecticut University O’Neill Center. This will be the last time to catch all three Newtown 2014 Winter guard shows, which includes Groovin’ Girls for the Juniors and Whirlwind for the Varsity. For information visit musicalartscnference.com.