Winter guard is a performance activity that involves the use of equipment such as flags, rifles and sabres, along with skills in dance. The Lafayette Winter guard program has two teams, with the junior varsity team competing in the scholastic AA division and the varsity team competing in the scholastic A division. Both teams compete with the Mid Continent Color Guard Association (MCCGA), however only the varsity team competes with Winter Guard International (WGI). This year, the junior varsity’s show is called “Up In The Clouds”, and the varsity’s show is called “Without You”.

Their competitive season started at Battle high school, and will end at the WGI international competition in Dayton, OH. This weekend, the team heads to Tulsa, OK to compete in the Tulsa Regional WGI competition.

In the WGI Indianapolis Regional, the varsity team placed 13th out of 24 teams, and were .22 of a point away from making finals. One of the team’s captains, senior Elena Mendoza, said the team is doing fairly well, even though they are young and newly trained.

“Our performance [in Indianapolis] was one of the best ones we have done so far in the season,” Mendoza said.

At the MCCGA Francis Howell North competition, the varsity team placed second overall, while the junior varsity team placed seventh overall.

“Considering our varsity team is mainly freshmen and sophomores, and we’re going up against other teams that have a lot more experience than us, I would say we’re doing really well. Most of our performances have been very strong so far this season,” freshman Abigail Scott said.

Scott joined Winter Guard because she was on Color Guard in the fall.

“I made a lot of new friends that have been like my second family. There was no way I would leave them after spending so many months with them, and we all love each other so much.” Scott said.

Senior Caitlyn Hern shares similar feelings to Scott, and enjoys it very much.

“My favorite part’s been helping people learn, and just to improve my skills and do something I’m really passionate about. It’s really fun and then I get to perform it and show it off,” Hern said.

The junior varsity team consists of beginners who are just learning how to throw.

“We’re learning basic tosses and skills, especially like performing skills, because we’re not very good at that yet. We’re learning some basic flag and rifle stuff, although, we haven’t done saber stuff yet because it’s too dangerous,” sophomore Brook Elston said.

Although the junior varsity team only placed 7th out of 11 teams at the MCCGA competition, Elston said they’re doing pretty well for being the less experienced team, and she thinks they have the potential to get better with practice.