ISU again names Marian Catholic grand champion

The Illinois State University Invitational Marching Championships took place today on the field at Hancock Stadium on the Normal, Illinois, campus. After 14 bands performed in the finals, judges named Marian Catholic High School from Chicago Heights the grand champion.

The band’s show, entitled “String Theory,” features “Petrouchka” by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, “Infernal Machine” by Christopher Rouse, “Red Cape Tango” by Michael Daugherty, and “Point Blank” by Paul Dooley.

The national-class band is expected to continue this competition season of excellence with two more appearances in Indianapolis, first at the Bands of America super-regional competition on October 23 and 24, and then at the Bands of America Grand National Championships on November 11 through 14.

This year before the Illinois State University competition, the band had been named grand champion at the Wheaton North Falcon Marching Band Festival in September and at the Lincoln-Way Invitational last week. At this festival, the band continues two historical streaks: consecutive grand championships since 2009 and the first place trophy in its enrollment class, which has usually placed the band in a class near the middle, since 1980.

Top finishers

In all, 45 marching bands took the field in competition at Illinois State University, making the competition one of the largest in the state this year. Fourteen bands were selected to participate in the finals at the end of the regular competition.

• Full Recap Sheet, ISU invitational, October 17, 2015

Finals

Class Competition

Note: In Class 5A, Lincoln-Way East and Victor J Andrew tied for second place. We have listed Andrew in third place on the basis of the bands’ general effect scores, which are typically used to break ties in marching band’s contrived rules for fine arts competition.