saxyman

Finals 88.15 Lincoln-Way 87.05 Lockport 83.10 Marian Catholic 82.50 Prospect 78.20 VJA 76.70 Morton 76.65 John Hersey 74.80 Romeoville 73.70 Plainfield North 73.40 Edwardsville 68.60 HD Jacobs 67.75 Bloomington 67.10 Galesburg 65.25 IVC 1A 1. IVC (Music, GE) 2. Eureka (Visual) 3. U-High Herscher (Crowd) 2A 1. Morton (Crowd, Music, GE, Visual) 2. Providence 3. Metamora 3A 1. Marian Catholic (Music, GE, Visual) 2. Galesburg 3. Bloomington (Crowd) 4A 1. John Hersey (Music, GE, Visual) 2. Romeoville (Crowd) 3. Rock Island Finalists: IVC, Morton, Marian Catholic, John Hersey, Galesburg, Bloomington, Romeoville 5A 1. Prospect (Music, GE, Visual) 2. VJA 3. Edwardsville Plainfield North (Crowd) 6A 1. Lockport (Crowd, GE) 2. Lincoln-Way (Music, Visual) 3. DGS Finalists: Prospect, Lockport, Lincoln-Way, HD Jacobs, Edwardsville, Plainfield North, VJA

That... is one heck of a departure from just a few years ago. Especially when U of I still used the Olympic judging. Then again, a "few years" is relative and I feel old. Honestly, however, looking at Indy results compared to ISU, there really isn't much that seems off.

Really good way to end the season for Lincoln-Way. Too bad they aren't going to GNats this year. Same goes for Lockport and O'Fallon.

Marian not in finals... Hope they can really clean up over the next few weeks, I'd hate to have no Illinois band in GNats finals.

The gap between 2nd and 3rd is... surprising.

Except for over-valuing John Hersey, I'm pretty proud of myself lol.

I was tossing that around, but the ending is just not there yet, which is no surprise. Those top 3 will be close for sure.

They did just start competing a few years ago. The more competitive bands Illinois has, the better, especially for those Chicago public schools. So many students to bring into the world of marching. I feel like the overall Illinois level is up from where it was a a decade ago, so it's good to see.

I'll go ahead and post my personal placements after watching finals. I'm probably wrong in several spots lol. Lincoln-Way Marian Catholic Lockport John Hersey Prospect VJA Romeoville Morton Edwardsville Plainfield North HD Jacobs Galesburg Bloomington IVC

This was definitely my favorite Lincoln-Way show since Blue Cathedral (LWE 2010). I didn't want it to end

If I'm being honest, I didn't expect HD Jacobs, but I didn't get a chance to watch their prelim performance. After seeing the finals performance, however, they were quite clean and deserved to be there.

This wouldn't be the first time that a finals berth or two seemed odd at ISU. We'll have to wait and see what the scores show point spread wise.

Finals Performance Order: 7:30 IVC 7:44 Bloomington 7:58 Galesburg 8:12 Morton 8:26 Edwardsville 8:40 HD Jacobs 8:54 Plainfield North BREAK 9:22 Lockport 9:36 Romeoville 9:50 John Hersey 10:04 Lincoln-Way 10:18 Marian Catholic 10:32 Prospect 10:46 VJA

Not entirely surprising.

Here are my predictions, the finalists in parentheses are the other bands that will be either in or next in line for finals. 1A U-High Eureka IVC 2A Morton Providence LaSalle-Peru 3A Marian Catholic Galesburg Bloomington 4A Romeoville John Hersey Rock Island Finalists: U-High, Morton, Marian Catholic, Romeoville, John Hersey, Galesburg, Bloomington (Dunlap, Lemont, Limestone, Rock Island) 5A Prospect Edwardsville VJA 6A Lincoln-Way Lockport Normal Finalists: Prospect, Lincoln-Way, Lockport, Edwardsville, Normal, VJA, Plainfield North (DGS, Minooka, Oswego, Warren) FINALS Lincoln-Way Marian Catholic Lockport Prospect Normal Edwardsville VJA Romeoville John Hersey Morton Plainfield North Galesburg Bloomington U-High

Don't want to appear biased, so I'll post my finalized predictions once DGS results are known. Should definitely be another good year at ISU.

I would figure announcer error, but BlueStarsDad may be right too.

1A 1. Ridgeview (Music, Visual) 2. Arcola (Perc) 3. Oblong (GE) Blue Ridge (Aux) Okaw Valley (DM) 1B 1. Herscher (GE, Perc) 2. Robinson (Visual, Aux) 3. Wesclin (Music, DM) 2A 1. Monticello (Music, Visual, GE, Perc) 2. Newton (Aux) 3. Paris Cooperative (DM) 3A 1. Effingham (Music, Visual, GE, Aux, DM) 2. Mt. Zion (Perc) 3. Richland County Soloist: Paris Cooperative (Flute) Small School GC: Monticello 4A 1. U-High (Music, Visual, GE, Aux, DM) 2. Mattoon (Perc) 3. Charleston 5A 1. Mahomet-Seymour (GE, Aux, DM) 2. Washington Community (Music, Visual, Perc) 3. Champaign Central 6A 1. Granite City (Visual, DM) 2. Belleville East (Music, GE, Perc, Aux) 3. Edwardsville Soloist: Belleville East Large School GC: Belleville East? Personal side-note: I don't use Facebook, but that stream quality was akin to an overused VHS. Not sure if that's indicative of FB's video hosting or if that was on EIU's end. I would, however, still prefer that over no stream. First world problems.

My predictions: 1A 1. H.D. Jacobs 2. Wheaton Warrenville South 3. Niles West 2A 1. Lake Park 2. Wheeling 3. Huntley 3A 1. VJA 2. Oak Park/River Forest 3. Glenbrook South GC: VJA

Class 1A2:15 PM: Niles West2:30 PM: Brother Rice/Mother McAuley2:45 PM: Waukegan3:00 PM: Wheaton Warrenville South3:15 PM: Bremen3:30 PM: H.D. Jacobs3:45 PM: Sherrard4:00 PM: AwardsClass 2A4:30 PM: Round LakeExb4:45 PM: Crystal Lake CentralClass 2A5:00 PM: Prairie Ridge5:15 PM: Mukwonago, WI5:30 PM: Huntley5:45 PM: Wheeling6:00 PM: BreakClass 2A6:15 PM: Rolling Meadows6:30 PM: Eureka6:45 PM: Lake ParkClass 3A7:00 PM: Victor J. Andrew7:15 PM: Glenbrook South7:30 PM: Oak Park/River ForestExb7:45 PM: Prospect8:00 PM: Awards Any thoughts? I'll post my predictions later tonight.

I'll go with: 1A 1. Providence 2. Coal City 3. Mt. Carmel 2A 1. St. Joseph-Ogden 2. Farmington 3. Unity 3A 1. Dunlap 2. Morris 3. Pekin 4A 1. IVC 2. East Peoria 3. Pontiac 5A 1. Galesburg 2. Monticello 3. Prairie Central 6A 1. Morton 2. Mahomet-Seymour 3. Plainfield South GC: Morton There may be potential for Mahomet-Seymour to win instead of Morton, but they haven't competed yet this year so it's impossible to say.

I was out of town this weekend, sorry about that. It's done.

Nice to see Urbana doing well. They've had some down years for awhile.

Yeah, that's still very impressive for Romeoville to tie Marian. I either wrote things down wrong, or they were announced incorrectly. Apologies.

1A 1 Lakes 65.40 (Music, Visual, GE) 2 WWS 61.75 (DM, Aux, Perc) 3 Marmion 56.35 2A 1 VJA 73.95 (Aux, Perc, Music) 2 Lemont 72.15 (Visual, GE) 3 Alan B Shephard 61.05 (DM) 3A 1 Romeoville 75.05 2 Marian Catholic 74.55 (DM, Music, Visual, GE) 3 Munster, IN 72.00 (Aux, Perc) GC: Romeoville