The varsity Winter Guard team tied for fourth place out of five teams and made it to finals with their performance at the Winter Guard International (WGI) Modesto regional competition on Feb. 25 at Enoch High School.

The varsity team spent the two days leading up to the competition putting in new prop routines with flags, which drastically changed their entire show.

“There were a lot of things on our minds going into the performance,” team member Austin Shi said. “But I would say we handled the show pretty well.”

Shi said the team’s performance with the props could have been improved. Even so, varsity made finals at the competition for the first time in Winter Guard history.

At the competition, the JV Winter Guard team placed eighth out of 11 teams in its division but did not make it to finals.

Prior to the WGI Modesto Regionals, both teams competed in the Winterguard CCGC competition at Independence High School on Feb. 11, where varsity placed fifth and JV placed second. The JV group attended another competition at Oak Grove High School on March 4, where they placed fourth.

Now, both teams are working on consistency and details — with varsity especially focusing on technique — for their upcoming show at the West Power Regional in Las Vegas on March 25 and 26, the culmination of Winter Guard’s season.

“It’s really been an expectation of us to fulfill what we can do,” Shi said. “Whatever the scores come out to be, that’s what they come out to be. Because at the end of the day, another group might just be better than you. And that’s totally OK.”