Samantha Kate Hurst helps NEMCC Indoor Winter Guard capture top honors in first event of year

2014 Jan 23

Northeast Mississippi Community College's indoor winter guard captured the Mississippi Indoor Association's state championship in 2012 and finished as the state runner-up in 2013.

Samantha Kate Hurst of Kossuth, MS (38834) and members of Northeast's indoor winter guard continued that tradition in the North Field Day & Night Show at Horn Lake High School on Saturday, January 18 as the college's winter guard took top honors in the Independent A division.

Northeast posted a 59.150 and bested Magnolia Independent (58.840) and Spyntropy (45.970) to open up its 2014 season.

Northeast's overall 59.150 score was the highest score of the day for all squads participating including three independent organizations, 16 high school teams and one middle school troupe.

Squads are judged on five different criteria - equipment, movement, ensemble analysis, general effects 1 and general effects 2 -- and those five criteria are added together for the overall placement.

Under the direction of Northeast assistant director of bands Jada Forsythe, Northeast posted top scores in the Movement Analysis category as well as took top honors in the General Effects category.

Northeast posted an 11.07 in the Movement Analysis column edging out Magnolia Independent's 11.01 and tallied a 24.6 from the two judges in the General Effects category inching almost a full point above Magnolia Independent's 23.7 for top honors.

Northeast also record the two highest scores of the day in a subcategory for the Design Analysis with a 64 and posted a day's-best 66 in a subcategory for General Effects 1.

Members of Northeast's 2014 Indoor Winter Guard include Claudia Aguilar of Belmont, Ann Marie Blake of Saltillo, Karly Christian of Ripley, Morgan Clark of Iuka, Breanna Crabb of Booneville, Lauren Davis of Kossuth, Barbara Doorenbos of Saltillo, Haley Heavener of Ripley, Samantha Hurst of Kossuth, Francisco Morfin of Ripley, Brooke Palmer of Kossuth, Hannah Rinehart of Kossuth, Shawntalay Shumpert of Shannon, Molly Thorn of Belmont, Jalissa Welch of Baldwyn and Alexis Wicks of Booneville.

Alternates for the squad include Bryson Edge of Booneville and Janie Pickering of South Pontotoc along with managers Kyle Gunn of Kossuth, Samantha Hollander of Iuka, Lee Hopson of Kossuth, Dominique Partlow of Shannon, Ranesha Small of Cleveland and Taylor Vandiver of West Point.

Northeast will be back in action on February 1 when the indoor winter guard travels to Nashville, Tenn., to compete at Independence High School before returning to northeast Mississippi and taking part in the February 7 event at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton.