INDIANAPOLIS — The booming sounds of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments took over downtown Indianapolis this week.
Bands of America hosted its 2023 Grand National Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium from Nov. 9-11.
More than 90 high school bands from across the nation competed over the course of three days, along with special exhibition performances, an expo and the Grand National Leadership Blast on Friday. 33 bands advanced into Saturday's semi-final competition.
Seven of those bands were from Indiana. Jordan Cain, Director for Homestead High School said the long practices made their performance worth it.
"It was the best show of the season," he said. "I told the kids 'leave it on the field and give it everything you have,' and their passion and efforts really showed in today's performance."
He said no matter what the results are, he's proud of the work his students have put in.
"We just showed them love and told the students 'you achieved something great today,'" he said.
Here are the results from the schools that made it into the finals Saturday, Indiana schools are in bold:
2023 Bands of America Grand Nationals Finals Results:
1. 97.475 - Avon H.S., IN
2. 97.275 - Carmel H.S., IN
3. 95.700 - Hebron H.S., TX
4. 95.075 - Blue Springs H.S., MO
5. 95.025 - The Woodlands H.S., TX
6. 94.350 - William Mason H.S., OH
7. 91.800 - Pearland H.S., TX
8. 90.625 - Pound Rock H.S., TX
9. 90.450 - Bentonville H.S., AR
10. 90.200 - Keller H.S., TX
11. 89.350 - Brownsburg H.S., IN
12. 88.900 - Fishers H.S., IN
The top 12 bands moved onto the finals, which began at 8 p.m., and finished around 11:30 p.m.
Carmel High School won first place overall in last year's competition with a score of 97.500. Another Indiana band, Avon High School, finished right behind Carmel to finish second place with a score of 96.150.
For more on the competition and events surrounding it, click here.
To get your tickets to the event, click here.