Traveling to Dayton, Ohio, this past weekend for the 2026 Winter Guard International Championships in the Woodwind Open Division, the Daviess County Indoor Winds program started their weekend calmly and confidently – placing first in the preliminary round with a score of 89.250.
Advancing to Sunday’s finals, Daviess County (91.275) narrowly held off Valley Christian High School (91.150), beating them by 0.125 points to become the WGI 2026 Scholastic Open Winds Class Champions.
“We are very proud of the kids. They did a great job all season long, and it culminated in a great performance this weekend in front of the national audience,” Daviess County Indoor Winds Band Director Nate Clark said. “Fortunately, we got the desired competitive result, and it was a lot of fun for the kids. We are really proud of them.”
Attending the WGI Championships since 2017, this marks the program’s third title, having won the A Class Championship in 2019 before tying for first in last year’s Open Class Championship.
“I think we have been very fortunate in the nine years that I have been teaching this group,” Clark said. “We’ve only placed outside of the top three once, and all of those teams were very special. But this group is probably the most talented group we have taught from top to bottom and definitely the most experienced.”
This year’s show was called Pour, which illustrates pouring yourself into something that is bigger than your individual being.
“The DC Indoor Winds are very appreciative of the support of our building Principal, Jeff Wethington, and our district fine arts coordinator, Jason Smith,” Clark said. “We are also very appreciative of the Daviess County High School band boosters for supporting the program.”
