The Carmel High School Marching Greyhounds added another chapter to their success story.
CHS won its sixth Bands of America Grand National Championship title Nov. 12 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The other titles came in 2005, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
“It was also our 26th consecutive appearance in the Grand National Finals, which is the longest active streak in the country,” said Chris Kreke, CHS’s marching band director. “The sweep of the caption awards (Music, Visual, and General Effect) was the third time that it has occurred for us, and we are the only group to have done so in Grand Nationals history.”
The band’s show was titled “Vitruvian” and was visually based on the famous da Vinci drawing “Vitruvian Man.”
“It featured Samuel Barber’s ‘First Symphony’ as the musical source material and was arranged by Richard Saucedo (retired director of bands at Carmel),” Kreke said. “The students did an absolutely amazing job of bringing the show to life with a very detailed and emotional performance on finals night. They’ve put in over 650 hours of rehearsal time since May working on this project, and I’m thrilled with the performance that they were able to give (Nov. 12).”
CHS senior Riley Stuelpe, one of the drum majors, said he was especially proud to have shared the field in the 12-band finals with four other Indiana bands. Avon finished second, Brownsburg eighth, Fishers 10th and Castle 12th.
“Winning Grand Nationals has been the honor of a lifetime,” Stuelpe said.
