Newtown Guards Place First Over The Weekend

On Saturday, March 31, Newtown High School’s Varsity Winter Guard was awarded first place in Scholastic National A division of the Musical Arts Conference (MAC) held at Trumbull High School, making this the ninth year in a row that the guard has brought home gold.

Earning a score of 92.1, the NHS Varsity was scored nearly three points above its nearest competitor, Danbury High School. 

The 19 Varsity Guard members, playing “sassy mechanics” in the show theme “Fast Car” had the audience on its feet with their perfectly choreographed flag work, and exciting rifle and saber tosses, which elicited cheers from the crowd filling Trumbull High School. 

“I had parents from other guards coming up to me and telling me how much they loved our show,” said instructor Bob Findley.

Also bringing home a first place trophy and medals, the Newtown Juniors, eight girls from Reed Intermediate School, was a MAC audience and judge favorite, earning a score of 84.8, besting rival Bethel by over two points. 

The Junior Guard, coached by Mr Findley and Varsity captains Victoria Hanulik and Sara Hetzer, performed their number “At the Hop,” while the audience clapped along to music of the 1950s.

 The Newtown High School Junior Varsity, competing against eight varsity and one other junior varsity level guard in the Scholastic AA division, earned a season high-score of 90.4 to also medal, bringing home the bronze with its performance, “Come What May.”

In the previous week, the 22 member NHS Junior Varsity was awarded a silver in the US Bands New England Open Championship, an achievement Band Director Kurt Eckhardt considered admirable, since nearly half of the team was brand-new to color guard.

On April 11, the Newtown High School Varsity Winter Guard will travel to Dayton, Ohio, where they will compete against more than 100 other high schools in the Winter Guard International Championships. 

The NHS Varsity Winter Guard is currently ranked 25th in the country in the Scholastic National A division.