Mahomet Family Dentistry Athlete of the Week: Mahomet-Seymour Marching Band

By Isabella Zarate

This season has turned out victorious for the Mahomet-Seymour Marching Band. 

Starting their competition preparation mid-summer, all 158 band members and director Michael Stevens have been hard at work. 

“We rehearse about 7.5 to 8.5 hours a week leading up to our competition season, which starts in October,” Stevens said. For Stevens and the band, the numerous hours of dedication have seemingly paid off. 

Mahomet-Seymour took home a variety of awards. Stevens explained, “We won Grand Champion at Mount Zion this year, we were our class winner at Effingham this year.” Also amongst the band’s titles, a fourth place recognition at the Lincoln-Way Invitational. 

To conclude their season, Mahomet-Seymour participated in their last competition on Saturday, October 22. This year the Illinois Marching Band Championships took place at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium.

For this event, Stevens and the students were focused on a specific theme, The Twilight Zone. With that, the band performed four different pieces including “On the Waterfront,” by Leonard Bernstein, and “The Death Hunt,” by Bernard Hermann. 

Mahomet-Seymour was among 18 bands in classes 1A-3A. That considered, this year’s competition was bound to be tough. 

Nevertheless, Mahomet-Seymour upheld their winning streak as they won both their class and the Governor’s Grand Champion trophy with the highest score of the day. 

“It is always nice to hear your name called at a competition,” Stevens Added. 

“We had a really good season all around. . .Starting the season out with nothing then ending the season on a really high note.”