Following the Lancer Regiment’s first-place finish at the Valencia Field Tournament Oct. 12, the Sunny Hills band won sweepstakes at the Sierra Vista Field Tournament Oct. 26 in Baldwin Park, earning five trophies.

“I was really happy with the performance everyone put in,” band director Whitney Ting said. “Winning sweepstakes for the first time in a competition with schools that have bigger bands felt pretty good.”

The Lancer Regiment’s performance, “The Beginning Elements,” earned a final score of 79.70, just inching past Arroyo High School’s 79.50 during the afternoon tournament held at Sierra Vista High School.

The Lancers also finished first among six other school bands in the visual effect, visual performance and percussion subcategories, respectively scoring 171.0, 161.0 and 68.00 from three judges.

“I am very excited and proud of our results,” said second-year drum major senior Natalia Arechiga. “Of course there will always be room for improvement, but it is nice to see our hard work pay off.”

The Lancer Regiment is working toward being one of 12 schools to qualify for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association Division 4A championships to be held Nov. 16 at Downey High School.

To do so, it must have one of the 12 highest cumulative scores from three competitions.

“I know we have a really good chance at making it to champs and medaling this year,” Arechiga said. “We have a very difficult show [to perform], and our members have been giving it their all.”

The Lancer Regiment’s next performance is at the Los Altos Field Tournament Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights.

“We have to keep working hard and really perfect our performance,” Ting said. “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing this year.”