“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,” the guard repeats over and over as they run across the court, spinning and tossing their flags and rifles and catching them in unison. They twist and turn, making sure to keep their form and stay in sync with each other. They all run to the corner and pose, signaling the end of their performance.

Texas High Winter Guard went to its second competition on Saturday, Feb. 18 and gained a score of 64.79, putting them in third place out of the five teams competing.

“I felt really nervous because there were a few minor issues that had never happened before,” sophomore Chloe Griffin said. “But I felt so ecstatic to perform because I love getting to present our awesome show that we have.”

During the performance, the team was caught off-guard when it realized the whole set was inverted, but they quickly managed to overcome this obstacle.

“We were used to how our gym [was] and we could tell the differences between the home side and the visitor side,” sophomore Harmony Mothershed said. “Instead of looking at the tarp, we relied on looking at how the gym [is shaped], but it was very confusing because the way their gym was set up, both the visitor and home side looked very similar. Half went with their guts and just looked at the tarp or followed others that were setting their things, but surprisingly the deduction wasn’t bad–just a point or two off.”

Although they have made top three at the past two competitions, they still feel like they have a lot to improve on for the next championship in Marcus on March 25.

“We may have gotten third place at the last competition,” sophomore Kayla Walthall said, “but I know we’ll definitely pull in first or second for our championship performance.”