While the varsity OHS Winter Guard has yet to reach its full potential for the season, it had a strong start by placing third out of 14 teams at its first competition on Jan. 26 at Mascoutah High School.

They competed in the Scholastic AA class, which is the second lowest class. This is a step up from last year, so they had higher ranked competitors whom they have never seen before.

“We only performed half of our show, while some of our competitors performed their whole show and received a lower score than us. So, it’s exciting knowing where we can go from here,” said Helen Tolcou (10), who is on the leadership team.

Mascoutah placed first with a score of 60.98, and Fort Zumwalt West Silver placed second with a score of 57.51. The OHS varsity Guard placed third overall in Scholastic AA, but second in their division with a score of 57.12, despite it not being their best performance.

“I felt pretty good about the performance. It was our first time performing the show for a real audience and while there were a few mistakes, they could never overpower the good in the run,” Tolcou said.

The next competition for the varsity and JV guards will be at Francis Howell North on Feb. 16.