The Knox Middle School “Pride of Troy” seventh- and eighth-grade bands won the Middle School Grand Championship at the 2009 Fiesta-val band competition in Myrtle Beach May 1.
Sam Kyzer, the band director, received the Fiesta-val Award of Distinction.
Knox concert and jazz bands from both grades performed, and all four ensembles won first-place honors and “excellent” ratings.
The band attended the awards ceremony at the Palace Theater along with several thousand high school and middle school band members.
Also performing in the middle school competition were Westover Christian Academy of Danville, Va., Seneca Middle School from Pennsylvania and Erwin Middle School of Rockwell.
The Knox groups won the 5-foot-tall Grand Championship trophy because their average scores were higher than any of the other concert bands, jazz bands, choruses or orchestras.
The Knox Band also earned Grand Championships at Williamsburg 2000, Myrtle Beach 2002 and Atlanta 2007.