Northmont’s winter guard earned second at state on Saturday, April 1 at the Nutter Center. The team consists of 16 students, ranging from freshmen to seniors.

“[I’m] really proud of everyone. We’ve been working hard all season, and it was a great finish for my [high school] winterguard career considering my freshman and sophomore years were rebuilding years,” said senior Megan McKarns.

Though the team members were proud of their second place win, some were disappointed at missing first by so few points.

“I was kind of upset because [we missed first] by only 4 points. It was good, [though], because the high school hasn’t gotten that close in a long time,” said junior Alexis Shepard.

McKarns has many aspirations for the Northmont team, as well as herself, next year.

“Winter guard at Northmont has started to grow and it’ll get really better over the next years. As for me, winter guard has helped me grow to do color guard in college,” said McKarns.

Many have enjoyed the season because the “smooth” show and team growth have increased chances to succeed.

“The writing of the show was better and smoother. It wasn’t as frantic and the season went a lot smoother because of the better planning. We have a better chance at getting into semi-finals and accelerating at future competitions,” said Shepard.

Members of winter guard include:

• Seniors: Michael Philpot, Sharlee Twarek, Brooke Fugate, and McKarns
• Juniors: Kaitlyn Cross, Robin Nelson, Alexis Shepard, Morgan Roberts, Cassidy Smith, and Briennon Saddler
• Sophomores: Amanda Blair and Kaitlyn Clutter
• Freshmen: Skye Gerhart, Riley Zaleski, Sara Dodson, and Te’Aylis Jackson

Winter guard will compete at the Winter Guard International Preliminary Finals on April 6 against 132 other teams from around the world.