The Hoover Winter Line competed in its first Open Class competition on Saturday at Monrovia High School and took fourth place in its show called, “The Courage to Fail.”

“I thought we did really well,” said Melissa Campbell, Hoover’s instrumental Director.

“This is our first time in Open Class since 2020. The three groups we were facing up against, all were in the top 10 at finals last year for Open Class. They are experienced in Open Class and they know what it entails and that’s our first experience with it, and we did pretty well.”

The Hoover Winter Line has been working hard for the past couple months on this show.

The line has put a lot of effort into the show.

“Don’t lose the focus, don’t lose the drive,” said Erik Guzman, a member of the percussion staff. “Just push it, be hungry.”

Being in open class has been a big change for Hoover.

“It would be a big change, but I feel like its more of a mental game than it is actually drumming,” Guzman said. “From A class it’s more of kids don’t really know what they’re doing. For us as Hoover, I feel like we have a good idea, but there is a lot of just mental individual things where it’s not like you can’t figure it out but it’s just like there is some question marks in our confidence.

“We have a good skill set, we need to match out confidence level with that skill set and that’s where open class and A class divide.”

There is still a lot to achieve for the Hoover.

“By the end I want to be able to look back and say that the program has gotten demonstrably improved since I joined it 4 years ago and with our current trajectory, that’s where it’s looking,” said senior Keaton Davis, Hoover’s Drumline captain.