The prior Wednesday, competing in the 2009 Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association Class 6A East Regional Marching Band Contest on the Broken Arrow High School campus, the Bruin Brigade earned a perfect score fromall three judges in the competition.

All of the bands which competed were judged based on their marching ability, their musical skill and the choreography of their performance. The Bruin Brigade – which consists of approximately 130 students from grades nine through 12 – performed an intricate 10-minute routine. And, it did so amid 25 mile-per-hour wind gusts. "Because it was so windy, I was a little concerned with how well we’d do," said Alex Claussen, the director of instrumental music for the Bartlesville Public School District. "When you’re playing the drums or spinning a flag and there are strong wind gusts, that can make it tough. "We had a couple of scary moments, but we had a lot of really good moments too."

Those good moments added up to a perfect score. A "one" is the highest score possible and the Bruin Brigade earned them in all three categories from all three judges. The resulting "superior" rating, which is given out to the bands who earn cumulative "one" scores in at least two of the three judging categories, puts the Bartlesville band program on the path toward a coveted Sweepstakes Award. The Sweepstakes honor is bestowed when a band earns superior awards at regionals as well as at the OSSAA state concert band and sight-reading contests, both of which are scheduled to take place in April.

The Bartlesville High School band last earned a Sweepstakes Award in 2004. The Bartlesville Mid-High School band won it last year. Claussen would love to see the two programs each earn the honor for the current 2009-10 academic year. "This is first piece of the puzzle," said Claussen on Wednesday afternoon following the Bruin Brigade’s fine showing at regionals. "I think we’ll have an excellent shot at the Sweepstakes Award, and I’m very proud of what we accomplished today."

The Bruin Brigade entered Wednesday’s regional competition at Broken Arrow on a hot streak. This month has seen it place fifth in the finals of a UCO-hosted event while chalking up a seventh-place f nish in the finals of the fiercely contested 2009 Renegade Review at Tulsa Union High School. On Sept. 26 at the 2009 Owasso Invitational, the Bruin Brigade took ninth at finals while competing against bands from Oklahoma as well as Arkansas and Missouri. All the while, the group has been honing and polishing the routine which it showcased on Saturday at Edmond.  "Our students are performing better now than I have ever seen them perform," said Claussen.