<< Back 10/16/02 SC band named grand champion of Western band competition SMN The marching band from James F. Byrnes High School of Duncan, S.C., was named grand champion of Western Carolina University’s Tournament of Champions, an invitational competition hosted by Western’s Pride of the Mountains Marching band Saturday, Oct. 5. The James F. Byrnes High School band was judged best among 24 of the Southeast’s top high schools that took part in the second annual competition. Reserve grand champion was Bassett High School of Bassett, Va., while Alan C. Pope High School of Marietta, Ga., took third place in the finals competition. Bands were divided into three classifications, based on the number of musicians in the band, and were judged in a variety of categories, including musical performance, visual performance and general effect, during morning preliminaries competition. The champion from each classification, plus the five highest-scoring bands not represented as class champion, comprised the afternoon finals session. Also advancing to the finals competition were bands from East Lincoln High School, Denver; Science Hill High School, Johnson City, Tenn.; Concord High School, Concord; Tuscola High School, Waynesville; and Wren High School, Piedmont, S.C. James F. Byrnes was champion of the AAA classification, Bassett High School was champion of the AA classification, and Tuscola High School was class A champion. More than 2,000 musicians took part in the daylong competition in E.J. Whitmire Stadium on the WCU campus. Participating bands came from Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and North and South Carolina.