The Soaring Pride Band will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico Saturday, Oct. 29 to perform at ZIA for the final contest of their 2016 season.

During the past two weekends the band participated in local contests, placing third at the High Plains Marching Contest Oct. 15 and receiving a second division at the UIL contest on Oct. 22. Head director Mike Sheffield said he knew this season would be tough.

“We knew we were pushing the limits of what we’d done in the past,” Sheffield said. “We knew we were breaking out of our old rut and trying to remake ourselves. We have had a couple of bumps, but one of them had nothing to do with show or the ability.”

The UIL performance originally received a first division, but because of a technical difficulty, the performance went 15 seconds over the initiated time, taking the rating to a second division. Sheffield said he hated it for the students, but he understood the unforgiving rule.

“If anything, the students of other bands got to see us as a respected group in our region deal with something other than a victory and watch us very closely,” Sheffield said. “If anything, we gained fans. We didn’t lose them.”

Junior drum major Braden Lefevre said the overall performance went very well aside from errors the band has worked to correct. He said he thinks the results from UIL will motivate the band during their last week of rehearsals and their last contest.

“Everyone has worked very hard to get to this point, and I felt like it really showed in this performance,” Lefevre said. “That being said, I still feel like we have a better show in us.”

Looking back to the High Plains contest two weeks earlier, senior drum major Madyson Edwards said it was an unexpected victory. Approaching the field she had more nerves than ever before because of the previous weekend’s results in Lubbock.

“We kind of expected it to not go our way because we still had work to do, but it ended up all clicking and working out the way we wanted it to,” Edwards said. “That was really cool, and it was just really fun.”

Edwards said the show’s level of difficulty makes it hard to compare to previous years, but students’ motivation is increasing.

“Last year we were more motivated in the beginning but this year we kind of had to build up that connection and that motivation,” Edwards said. “But I feel like now we have the same motivation that we did last year.”

Sheffield said the performance has taken a while to reach its peak and as with every year, the line from beginning to end is never a straight path. Sheffield’s primary goal for ZIA is to present the audience with the best show yet, with a secondary goal to make finals.

“Part of me is hoping to be vindicated from UIL, and the other part of me is just trying to see if we can set a new record for ourselves,” Sheffield said. “We want to outdo ourselves.”

Sheffield said the students had to make sacrifices and suffer together as a band, and the result of their sacrifice made a more meaningful show and required many students to show more dedication.

“The students had to make some very real, personal sacrifices, and as a result, the show means something,” Sheffield said. “And that sacrifice to the team has made the show what it is. Everybody is emotionally invested, and I’m hoping for a big return on Saturday on that investment.”