Penn Invite...A picture of the band as they march out for performance.  Paste the following link into your browser and watch the latest edition of their show.  All the music is now complete.  There is more marching to incorporate and probably a few more effects.

http://youtu.be/dPqfWawN0_U

The Marching Band season has begun.  The Goshen Invite is the first stop.  We claimed 1st place in our class and swept all awards.  You can view the portion of the program they performed by following this link below.  The picture is a part of the initial formation.  I am hoping I captured the one that Becky is in.  This band has 245 members.  From sheer size alone it is tremendous.  Here is to the Concord Marching Minutemen in the hopes of a championship season.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyZF5oV-Ibk (copy and paste into your browser).  

 Rebecca is third from the bottom.

Rebecca is entering her freshman year.  At Concord High School you have to march your freshman year if you want to even be part of band the following years.  The marching band is 247 members strong.  Pictured is their fun costume.  On Wednesday (8-7) they head off to Cedar Point Amusement Park to march for a few minutes and play the rest of the day.  Have fun, Rebecca.

Cassidy is going through the "last thing of this and the last thing of that" as she prepares to graduate in June.  Tonight was a very popular show that the Concord High School Dance/Choir/Band departments put on.  The show is entitled "Carnival."  Sell outs of 1300 or so attend this one night event.  Cassidy is part of Jazz 2 and the video link below shows her performance.  Watch for her solo!  (Click on the link and a window will open that will patch you into YouTube.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13C20p6Z-Hw

Rebecca had her art piece placed in a scholastic art show. Her piece was one of 450 out of 2300 that qualified. She received honorable mention. Her piece is the upper left corner of the picture. The second picture was the awards ceremony. Not the beat quality picture but we are proud of her. Way to go Rebecca.

Regionals.  A chilly enough morning that the runners were allowed to wear hats and gloves.  Concord made it though Sectionals on Tuesday and now it is time for Regionals.   The top 15 runners and 5 teams will advance to semi-state.  I didn't really expect Concord to pull this off.  In the end the team did not qualify to advance.  Cassidy had run her final race in Cross Country.  And it was a good one.  She scored a PR for the season and had a nice burst at the end.  A season that brought her struggles and triumphs ended just a hand full of seconds away from her best time ever.  It was a wonderful end.  For this father it brings a tear to my eye as I realize this phase of her life is over.  Ah, yes,  now for Track.........and I have already started reminding her to keep in shape.

 Cassidy's Cross Country Picnic 2012.  Shown above (L to R: Emily, Brandi, Laura, Cassidy).  These are the Seniors.

 A partial team picture.

 The rest of the Cross Country team presented a gift box to each of the Seniors.

 Another team picture.  Most of the team members are present in this picture.

 Just a fun picture....

Coach Juday and Cassidy.  They are off to Sectionals on the 9th.  Regionals follow then Semi-State and State.  The team would love to clear Sectionals and qualify for Regionals.   Wish them luck.

The soccer season is over for Rebecca.  She played in the 7th-12th grade division.  Her team took 2nd place losing in the championship game 4-3.  Rebecca ended up playing keeper (goalie) through the whole tournament.  Of course the goalie feels responsible.  It was tough for her but a can of olives helped her later on. 

Northridge, Penn win girls cross country league meets

Northridge, Penn win girls cross country league meets

Check out the picture of Cassidy in the Elkhart Truth newspaper.  Click on the link "Northridge, Penn win girls cross country league meets" directly above.

Cassidy took 36th overall with a time of 21:24.  Her best time on this course is 20:54.

We were in for a treat to watch Ashley Erba run.  She goes to a competing high school.  This girl is the fastest in Indiana and ranked something like 5th in the country.  After the race she didn't wait for the awards but boarded a plane to take a college trip to Georgetown University.  She ran a 17:17.

Fall sports are well under way.  Cassidy is once again running Cross Country.  She is in her senior year and the races are nearing their end.  The last two weeks her team has participated in major cross country events.  Last week they were at the New Prairie invitational which had some 2000 participants in different classes.  There were some 85 or so teams at the event.  The course has been dubbed by at least one group as one of the top ten cross country courses in the country.  Don't know if this true or not but from Cassidy says it is a cool course to run on.  This week (9-22) they were at another major event.  They race Cassidy's team was in had a combined total (Varsity and JV) of over 300 girls in the race.  Cassidy scored 52nd place and came close to her best time ever.  The top two pictures are from an earlier race this year.  Rebecca is playing soccer for her 9th straight year.  She started when she was in kindergarten.  This could be her last year depending on what she chooses to do for activities once she is in high school.  She primarily plays defense but has been playing keeper (goalie) a little this year.  Today (9-22) she was goalie for the whole game.  The pictures are from an earlier game this year.  Tournament play starts for her on Tuesday.