Prospect Marching Knights add state title to trophy chest

The Prospect Marching Knights continued to drum up support from fans and winning marks from judges with yet another impressive showing over the weekend.

The Prospect High School band Saturday was named the Illinois 5A State Champions and won second place overall out of 45 schools that competed at the State of Illinois Invitational Marching Band Championships at Illinois State University.

“The band had an unbelievable performance at ISU,” Prospect High School’s Director of Bands Chris Barnum said.

The Knights also captured all possible “High Achievement” awards for music performance and visual performance and effect. They also won “Best Crowd Appeal” in Class 5A preliminaries.

Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights took the overall first-place spot.

Other area high school bands that competed included Batavia, Warren Township, Lake Park, Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South, Huntley, Naperville Central and Naperville North.

This year’s Prospect Marching Knights performance, entitled “Leonardo’s Dream,” featured music from Eric Whitacre and Malcolm Arnold, including “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine.”

Prospect senior and drum major Jessica Kreidler said the show is about “dreaming, creating, pushing and finally flying.” The show earned the Knights the Illini Grand Champion Trophy last month at the 41st annual University of Illinois Illini Marching Band Championships.

The Knights this weekend travel to Indianapolis for their final competition of the season. The Indianapolis Super Regional on Saturday will feature bands from several Midwestern states.

Barnum said the Knights are looking forward to their last week together and said he was proud of his band.

“It was a special day in many ways,” he said. “I’m very proud of the way the band has worked throughout our season, and we have had a number of great performances.”