Diamond Bar High School’s marching band made history on Nov. 2 when it competed in the Chino Band Review and won Sweepstakes, the award given to the highest-scoring competitor.
“What was for so long been an unreachable dream has finally become an amazing, concrete reality,” senior and band vice president Jasmine Hsu commented.
The band, which performed the musical selection “Solid Men to the Front” throughout the parade, received a score of 95.55. In addition, the Color Guard, and Drum Major were given the scores of 92.65 and 88.20 respectively.
The marching band, also known as the Thundering Herd, managed to beat big-name bands such as Arcadia and Riverside King, both of which had won accolades like Sweepstakes in previous years. Diamond Bar is only the eighth band to take home the Sweepstakes.
Unexpectedly, members of the Riverside King marching band, which had placed second behind Diamond Bar, demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship by congratulating the Thundering Herd at the end of the awards ceremony. Band members shook hands, as if they were football players.
“Watching the Riverside Kings congratulate us was definitely the cherry on top because I knew they hated us for it. It was the moment they realized Diamond Bar is finally competitive and we ruined their winning streak,” senior drum major Jonn Alcantara said.
Steve Acciani, DBHS’ band director, knew they had made history. “Winning Sweepstakes was really exciting, especially this year, because we have an incredible senior class that has done amazing things over the past four years. We also probably have the best color guard and the best drum major, so it’s all the elements coming together and having a tremendous amount of success. We’re heading into the Championships ranked number one in the state right now,” Acciani commented.
