As flags spin in the air and bodies dance passionately to choreography, the Texas High School varsity and JV Winter Guard teams participate in the Four States Winter Guard Competition, hosted by Texas High.
On March 7, 2026, various high schools and colleges competed at this year’s Four States Winter Guard Competition. Held after many months of preparation, this event allows Winter Guard teams to show off hours of practices with a grand performance.
“We’ve been behind-the-scenes planning for a couple of months since we’ve known about us hosting in December,” head director Herman Montoya said. “It has been a long process, but [we] got there.”
This event took place in the Texas High School gym, providing a more comfortable atmosphere for the team to perform in.
“We had a very fun and exciting body and equipment warm-up,” captain Jlynn Dowden said. “We felt really excited to be at our home school, so [there were] really no nerves.”
During the varsity team’s performance, the crowd reacted positively to certain skills demonstrated by the team.
“I think we had a good run from the crowd’s expression and from our coach’s comments, but there are probably still a lot of little things that we have to work on, like individual issues,” Dowden said. “Overall, I feel like we [had] a good run.”
Months of practice to perfect the more difficult aspects led to a great performance.
“I am very proud of everybody and how we’ve evolved, especially at the end of the show, with us not being able to count because of a silent moment,” senior lieutenant Cameron Cribbs said. “Personally, I feel like I did good [in] my performance.”
After months of trial and error, Montoya and his show designer planned this year’s music and theme.
“I work[ed] with my former boss from Dallas, [who is] my show designer, [through] the entire marching season, going through songs [and] random designs,” Montoya said. “He presented this one to me, and after listening to it, [I was sold and loved it].”
As the event approached, the team’s hard work and dedication became more evident. Those in leadership roles played an important part in leading the team to a successful performance.
“My three captains really helped pull this event together and made sure everyone [was] doing their roles, and I couldn’t do it without them,” Montoya said. “When they [went] out to perform for varsity, they put their [so much] emotion and choreography into it.”
The varsity team earned fourth place overall with 28 points, and JV earned sixth place.
“[We got] the results I was expecting, but the team [did not expect it]. We’ve shown that we have the skill level to win, but we’re not there yet,” Cribbs said. “I feel like we need a little more work, and then once we get there, we’ll know.”
As a whole, the Winter Guard team worked hard to secure their place and strive for excellence in the future.
“My hope for the team in the future is more team bonding, like connection with [each other and] building those friendships,” Cribbs said. “My goal in the future is to take [my skills] to college and come back and help out sometimes during marching season or winter guard season.”
