Illinois Marching Band Championships

[Marching101]

So many folks have been discussing how the ISU contest will go, but not a lot of talk on the U of I contest. What are your thoughts on the Illinois Marching Band Championships? 

[Dan Balash]

It is an interesting show this year, with bands who rarely attend U of I, including Lake Park, Victor J. Andrew, to name a few.  Hopefully U of I and ISU will continue to be on opposite weekends.

 

Class 1A
8:00 AM: Blue Ridge
8:15 AM: Mater Dei
8:30 AM: Tri-Valley
8:45 AM: Okaw Valley
9:00 AM: Maroa-Forsyth
9:15 AM: ROWVA
9:30 AM: Hoopeston Area
9:45 AM: Watseka Community

10:00 AM: Break

Class 2A
10:15 AM: Illinois Valley Central
10:30 AM: Paris Cooperative
10:45 AM: Effingham
11:00 AM: Newton
11:15 AM: Monticello
11:30 AM: Prairie Central
11:45 AM: Pontiac Township

12:00 PM: Break

Class 3A
12:15 PM: University
12:30 PM: East Peoria
12:45 PM: Highland
1:00 PM: Geneseo
1:15 PM: Mahomet-Seymour

Exb
1:30 PM: University of Illinois Marching Illini

1:45 PM: Awards

 

Class 4A
2:30 PM: Antioch
2:45 PM: Kaneland
3:00 PM: Champaign Central
3:15 PM: Grayslake North
3:30 PM: Washington Community

3:45 PM: Break

Class 5A
4:00 PM: Yorkville
4:15 PM: Plainfield North
4:30 PM: DeKalb
4:45 PM: Victor J. Andrew
5:00 PM: A.A. Stagg
5:15 PM: Granite City
5:30 PM: Mundelein

5:45 PM: Break

Class 6A
6:00 PM: Lake Park
6:15 PM: Normal
6:30 PM: Carl Sandburg
6:45 PM: Naperville Central
7:00 PM: Minooka Community
7:15 PM: Neuqua Valley
7:30 PM: Huntley
7:45 PM: Fremd
8:00 PM: Waubonsie Valley

Exb
8:15 PM: University of Illinois Marching Illini

8:30 PM: Awards

[BRMMSax20]

6 hours ago, Marching101 said:

So many folks have been discussing how the ISU contest will go, but not a lot of talk on the U of I contest. What are your thoughts on the Illinois Marching Band Championships? 

I agree with Dan. I think U of I will become more clear after tomorrow. Lots of close races & the addition of new blood, I think will make things a little more exciting than in years past. 

[BRMMSax20]

Class 1A - 1. Watseka, 2. Mater Dei, 3. Tri-Valley, 4. Maroa-Forsyth, 5. ROWVA, 6. Hoopeston Area, 7. Okaw Valley, 8. Blue Ridge

Class 2A - 1. IVC / Paris, 2. IVC / Paris, 3. Monticello, 4. Newton, 5. Pontiac, 6. Effingham, 7. Prairie Central

Class 2A is going to be close across the board. We will have a better picture after ISU as IVC / Paris / Monticello go head-to-head for the first time this season. 

Class 3A - 1. Mahomet-Seymour, 2. East Peoria, 3. Geneseo, 4. University, 5. Highland

Small School's Governor's Trophy: Mahomet-Seymour
Dark Horses: IVC, Paris

Class 4A - 1. Washington, 2. Kaneland, 3. Grayslake North, 4. Champaign Central, 5. Antioch

Class 5A - 1. Plainfield North, 2. Victor J. Andrew, 3. Granite City, 4. Yorkville, 5. DeKalb, 6. Mundelein, 7. A.A. Stagg

Class 6A - 1. Normal, 2. Minooka , 3. Naperville Central, 4. Huntley, 5. Fremd, 6. Lake Park, 7. Carl Sandburg, 8. Waubonsie Valley, 9. Neuqua Valley

Class 6A is going to be competitive. I'm not as familiar with the Chicagoland bands. Looking over their head-to-heads, 2nd-6th could really go in any order. 

Large School's Governor's Trophy: Normal 

[Bk5]

1 hour ago, BRMMSax20 said:

Class 1A - 1. Watseka, 2. Mater Dei, 3. Tri-Valley, 4. Maroa-Forsyth, 5. ROWVA, 6. Hoopeston Area, 7. Okaw Valley, 8. Blue Ridge

Class 2A - 1. IVC / Paris, 2. IVC / Paris, 3. Monticello, 4. Newton, 5. Pontiac, 6. Effingham, 7. Prairie Central

Class 2A is going to be close across the board. We will have a better picture after ISU as IVC / Paris / Monticello go head-to-head for the first time this season. 

Class 3A - 1. Mahomet-Seymour, 2. East Peoria, 3. Geneseo, 4. University, 5. Highland

Small School's Governor's Trophy: Mahomet-Seymour
Dark Horses: IVC, Paris

Class 4A - 1. Washington, 2. Kaneland, 3. Grayslake North, 4. Champaign Central, 5. Antioch

Class 5A - 1. Plainfield North, 2. Victor J. Andrew, 3. Granite City, 4. Yorkville, 5. DeKalb, 6. Mundelein, 7. A.A. Stagg

Class 6A - 1. Normal, 2. Minooka , 3. Naperville Central, 4. Huntley, 5. Fremd, 6. Lake Park, 7. Carl Sandburg, 8. Waubonsie Valley, 9. Neuqua Valley

Class 6A is going to be competitive. I'm not as familiar with the Chicagoland bands. Looking over their head-to-heads, 2nd-6th could really go in any order. 

Large School's Governor's Trophy: Normal 

It will be close between Watseka and Mater Dei in 1a. Also Effingham 6th is criminal after they beat Newton, Monticello, and Pontiac at EIU last weekend. I do agree with IVC winning the class though. Should be a fun one!

Edited October 18, 2024 by Bk5

[newtonmarchgeaglealum2000]

Not sure if you’ve been watching the 1A bands but I think it will be more like:

1. Mater Dei

2. Watseka

3. Maroa-Forsyth

but could be a good fight for 3rd with some of other bands. Mater Dei started year very strong. Maroa-Forsyth was just a point behind Watseka at EIU. 

[awkwardpenguin14]

My hot take? Mahomet will be within a point of Normal, and get 2nd overall (yes, I know one is small, the other is large school)

[Dan Balash]

U of I has constantly been the show for unexpected results.

 

• The Olympic scoring system
• Hersey winning for the first time in 2009 due to their parade scores
• Granite City winning the Governors' Cup in 2017 over Normal West and winning 5A in 2019 over Plainfield North
• 2016, only 2 bands (Morton & Mahomet-Seymour) scoring above 70 in 1A-3A.

[WashingtonDLFan]

I'm not super familiar with some of these bands, but since I've started posting here a bit now and I enjoy predictions, I'll give it a shot.

Small Schools

1A: 1. Mater Dei, 2. Watseka, 3. Maroa-Forsyth, 4. Tri-Valley, 5. ROWVA, 6. Hoopeston Area, 7. Okaw Valley, 8. Blue Ridge

Mater Dei's success at Metro East leads me to put them atop this class, without much else to go on.

2A: 1. IVC, 2. Paris, 3. Newton, 4. Effingham, 5. Monticello, 6. Pontiac, 7. Prairie Central

Very close-looking class, especially after ISU at which Prairie Central beat Paris and Monticello. This will probably age the worse of my list - I feel good about IVC winning the class, though.

3A: 1. Mahomet-Seymour, 2. East Peoria, 3. Geneseo, 4. Highland, 5. University

Not super confident in the bottom of this one. I do think East Peoria is a little underappreciated in general, though, local bias aside. I think they could be a dark horse.

Small School GC: Mahomet-Seymour

2. IVC, 3. East Peoria

 

Large Schools

4A: 1. Washington, 2. Grayslake North, 3. Kaneland, 4. Champaign Central, 5. Antioch

Having spent a lot of time with Washington I feel comfortable saying they're meaningfully stronger than last year.

5A: 1. Plainfield North, 2. Victor J. Andrew, 3. Yorkville, 4. Granite City, 5. DeKalb, 6. Mundelein, 7. A.A. Stagg

VJA coming here is interesting - I don't think that's happened in the time I've paid attention. Fun to see that with ISU and U of I on different weekends.

6A: 1. Normal, 2. Naperville Central, 3. Lake Park, 4. Minooka, 5. Carl Sandburg, 6. Huntley, 7. Fremd, 8. Waubonsie Valley, 9. Neuqua Valley

Like with a lot of these, most of these schools seem pretty close in the head-to-head, though Normal looks to sit atop it solidly.

Large School GC: Normal

2. Plainfield North, 3. Victor J. Andrew

[Dan Balash]

Class 1A

1. Mater Dei
2. Watseka
3. Maroa-Forsyth

Class 2A

1. IVC
2. Paris
3. Newton

Class 3A

1. Mahomet-Seymour
2. Geneseo
3. East Peoria

 

Small Schools Governors Cup: Mahomet-Seymour

 

Class 4A

1. Washington Community
2. Champaign Central
3. Grayslake North

Class 5A

1. Plainfield North
2. VJA 
3. Yorkville

Class 6A

1. Normal
2. Naperville Central
3. Lake Park

Large Schools Governors Cup: Normal

 

[awkwardpenguin14]

Watch 2A only - 2a rankings (from my uneducated eye) 

1: IVC

2: effingham 

3: Newton 

4: Newton  

5: Monticello

6: prairie central

7: Pontiac 

[WashingtonDLFan]

34 minutes ago, awkwardpenguin14 said:

3: Newton 

4: Newton  

Which of these is meant to be Paris?

[awkwardpenguin14]

9 minutes ago, WashingtonDLFan said:

Which of these is meant to be Paris?

Whoops! I was really debating them in my head- but I think Paris is in the 3rd slot

[awkwardpenguin14]

Was able to make it back for Mahomet- they sounded great! The soloist was beautiful, and the trumpets!! Overall excellent! 

[awkwardpenguin14]

Brief results:

1A Mater Dei, Watseka, Hoopeston (!)

2a: IVC, Effingham, Paris

3a: mahomet, Geneseo, East Peoria,

1A-3A: Mahomet

[BRMMSax20]

IMBC 2024 RESULTS (SMALL SCHOOLS)
CLASS 1A
1. Mater Dei (Music & GE)
2. Watseka (Visual)
3. Hoopeston 

CLASS 2A
1. IVC - 80.250 (Winds, GE, Visual)
2. Effingham - 77.250
3. Paris - 76.000
4. Monticello - 73.700
5. Pontiac - 72.700
6. Newton - 72.650
7. Prairie Central - 71.150

CLASS 3A
1. Mahomet-Seymour (Winds, GE, Visual)
2. Geneseo 
3. East Peoria

Small School's Governor's Trophy: Mahomet-Seymour

[BRMMSax20]

On 10/18/2024 at 4:40 PM, Bk5 said:

It will be close between Watseka and Mater Dei in 1a. Also Effingham 6th is criminal after they beat Newton, Monticello, and Pontiac at EIU last weekend. I do agree with IVC winning the class though. Should be a fun one!

You called it in 1A! I'll happily eat my words here for 2A. I really enjoyed Effingham's show. To the untrained eye, every production across the board brought something different to the table. IVC had what I think was their best run of the year, Paris looked sharp as always, Monticello had great soloists, etc. I think this class should be proud of how competitive it turned out. What a season between Effingham, Monticello, Paris, & Newton. If you had this group at ISU, I'd think you'd see different results on any given week. No argument for Mahomet - WOW.

PS - Note the 9 point gap between Prairie Central & IVC vs. the 3 point gap at ISU last weekend.

[Marchguy]

50 minutes ago, BRMMSax20 said:

IMBC 2024 RESULTS (SMALL SCHOOLS)
CLASS 1A
1. Mater Dei (Music & GE)
2. Watseka (Visual)
3. Hoopeston 

CLASS 2A
1. IVC - 80.250 (Winds, GE, Visual)
2. Effingham - 77.250
3. Paris - 76.000
4. Monticello - 73.700
5. Pontiac - 72.700
6. Newton - 72.650
7. Prairie Central - 71.150

CLASS 3A
1. Mahomet-Seymour (Winds, GE, Visual)
2. Geneseo 
3. East Peoria

Small School's Governor's Trophy: Mahomet-Seymour

Class 1A
1.  Mater Dei - 74.100 (Music & GE)
2.  Watseka - 70.975 (Visual)
3.  Hoopeston - 63.575
4. Maroa-Forsyth - 63.400
5.  ROWVA - 62.350
6.  Tri-Valley - 61.750
7.  Blue Ridge - 54.950
8.  Okaw Valley - 54.850

[WashingtonDLFan]

IMBC Awards - Large Schools

Class 4A

1. Washington (Music, Visual, GE)

2. Champaign Central

3. Grayslake North

Class 5A

1. Plainfield North (Music, Visual, GE)

2. DeKalb

3. Granite City

Class 6A

1. Normal (Music, Visual, GE)

2. Lake Park

3. Naperville Central

Large Schools Governor's Trophy: Normal

[IL Marching.Fan]

14 minutes ago, WashingtonDLFan said:

IMBC Awards - Large Schools

Class 4A

1. Washington (Music, Visual, GE)

2. Champaign Central

3. Grayslake North

Class 5A

1. Plainfield North (Music, Visual, GE)

2. DeKalb

3. Granite City

Class 6A

1. Normal (Music, Visual, GE)

2. Lake Park

3. Naperville Central

Large Schools Governor's Trophy: Normal

WHAT?? VJA not placing?? Wow…

[WashingtonDLFan]

1 hour ago, IL Marching.Fan said:

WHAT?? VJA not placing?? Wow…

That surprised me too - I watched all of 4A and 5A and thought they were quite good. Congrats to DeKalb and Granite City on the upset, though. Will be very interesting to see the full scoresheets for this one. VJA never goes here so I have to wonder if something about their approach just doesn't work as well for the judges at U of I. What it could be, though, beats me.

[Suburbanbandfan]

I’m glad VJA came back to U of I. Lake Park and NC showed up! I’m hoping for Chicagoland area bands coming back to Memorial Stadium. For example, Lincoln-Way. (I don’t think have performed as a combine unit before.) 

 

[Dresstheform]

Did they announce the contest date for next year?  When is it?

[BRMMSax20]

1 hour ago, Dresstheform said:

Did they announce the contest date for next year?  When is it?

While I was there during the morning block, I do not recall them announcing next year's date.

[Marchguy]

On 10/27/2024 at 9:41 AM, BRMMSax20 said:

While I was there during the morning block, I do not recall them announcing next year's date.

They did not.  I read somehwere the Big Ten football schedule for 2025 isn't coming out until JUNE - so I don't seehow they can set a date before that schedule is released.