Winter guard groups compete in Roselle

Some athletes use push ups and rap music to psyche themselves up for competitions.

Not Emily Bettencourt, and Liz Ramirez. The Lake Park High School seniors sat in front of a mirror with hair extensions and straightening irons a few hours before their winter guard competition on Saturday.

"It's like a sport, only with dancing and flags," said Ramirez, who admitted many people don't know much about winter guard performances. "We really like preforming in front of everyone."

Lake Park hosted one of the largest winter guard competitions for middle school and high schools students on Saturday. Parents and fans lines the gym stands to watch about 30 groups from schools around the Midwest compete.

Winter guard combines elements of dance, gymnastics and military-style drills. Each teams performs routines to pieces of music and the routines include twirling, throwing and catching of props like flags, sabers and wood rifles. While color guard groups preform as part of a marching band, winter guards preforms as a solo unit and usually indoors.

On Saturday, Downers Grove South High School came in first in the Scholastic Regional division followed by Plainfield High School, Normal Community High School, Wheaton Warrenville South High School and Bettendorf High School (Bettendorf, Iowa).

Minooka Community High School won the Scholastic AA division followed by Hersey High School, Lake Central High School, Warren Township High School, Naperville North High School and DC Everest (Schofield, Wis).

In the Scholastic Open division, Lake Central High School came in first, LaPorte High School (La Porte, Indiana) came in second and Lake Park High School came in third.

Mascoutah High School won the Scholastic A division and the South Shore Drill Team won the Independent Open division.

Amy Sharp, winter guard director at Lake Park High School, said the school has been hosting the competition for more than 20 years.

"Winter guard is very much like a sport," Sharp said. "It's competitive and you have to be very athletic."