Laurens Color Guard wins regional championship
The champion Laurens Jaguars! Top row, left to right, are Athena Saggese, Sophie Gilmore, and Mackenzie Budine. Center row, left to right, are Sierra Rondeau, Natalie Davis, Mallory Kovacs, and Alexis Cole. Bottom row, left to right, are Alicia Stevens, isabella Failla, Emma Hughes, and Mackenzie Louden. Photo courtesy of Carol Louden.
Laurens Central School’s storied Jaguars color guard brought home first-place honors in the Mid York Color Guard Circuit’s Winter Guard competition, out-performing guards from Liverpool, New Hartford, Mohonasen, and other large school districts throughout New York State.
The Jaguars’ SA-1 Winter Guard capped its October-to-April season with the April 2 championship, adding another honor to the school’s 50-year-plus legacy of color guard excellence.
“Ours is one of the oldest Guards in New York State,” co-director Jennifer Sander told The Freeman’s Journal / Hometown Oneonta; she and Carol Louden are co-directors of the squad. “The senior guard put in two-and-a-half to three hours of practice three days a week. It’s a lifestyle for them and for all of us who are involved.”
Her team, she said, couldn’t wait to get back on the floor after a two-year COVID-induced hiatus. But when the season began, they were ready to go and eager to make the jump from the SA-2 class, for smaller schools, to Senior Guard SA-1.
