Marching Lions Celebrate Record Year!

The Marching Lions’ competitive season was the most successful in program history. Their show was entitled “Music of the Night, ” featuring music from American film composer Danny Elfman. With this show, the group won first-place honors in Class 4A at the Marion Marching Invitational, Bands Across the Prairie, and the Five Seasons Marching Band Invitational. At one of these festivals, they received a score of 93.6 (out of 100) which is the highest total score in program history.

The group also swept the caption awards at these three festivals which include “Best Winds”, “Best Percussion”, “Best Color Guard”, and “Best Drum Majors”. Additionally, The Marching Lions earned a “Superior” Division 1 rating at the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Band Festival – their 41st Division 1 rating in a row. And finally, the group earned 3rd place (and 2nd place among  Iowa 4A schools) at the ValleyFest Showdown in West Des Moines – which is considered by most to be the premier marching band festival in the state.

Additional non-competitive performances included the Fall Into Marion Parade, four home football games, the Linn-Mar Homecoming Parade, the Metro Marching Band Classic, the Band Extravaganza, and an exhibition performance at the very successful Linn-Mar Marching Band Festival.

Student leaders for the 2023 season included drum majors Jonas Jaritz, Micah Langley, Timothy Laubach, Jace Whitham, and forty-five additional students who served the group as members of the Leadership Team.

The 247-member Marching Lions are under the direction of Dan Terrell, Aaron Nuss, and Jen Tiede. They are grateful to have a tremendous team of designers and additional instructors as well as an incredible amount of support from parent volunteers.

Congratulations to the Linn-Mar Marching Lions on a fantastic, record-breaking season!