Kara McGonegle, Manuela Rodriguez and Luke Royster all were named outstanding soloists for their performances during the event, which brought together 60 of the state’s finest high school jazz ensembles.

“The kids had a great time,” said Ryan Swedean, director of bands at St. Edmond. “We didn’t place this year, which is kind of disappointing, but that is a testament to the other bands in the state of Iowa and just how strong the competition was in Class 1A.”

Along with McGonegle, Rodriguez and Royster, Chloe Palmer, Caitlin Croonquist, Sophia Schlienz, Aianna Kirby, Lacey Larson, Jacob Nieland, Zach Midtling, Sam Slife, Logan Reed, Alex Tiernan and Lucy Midtling were also part of the team.

“I am super proud of how the kids performed,” Swedean said. “I definitely think this was their best performance of the year.”

All ensembles perform in the daytime preliminary competition, and the top two bands from each classification perform in the evening finals competition. The event was founded by Iowa jazz educators in 1976 and continues to be an important event on the Iowa high school music landscape each spring.

Each year, 15 groups from each of the four Iowa high school classifications are selected to compete.

Tri-Center was crowned the 1A band champion this year with West Lyon in 2A, Pella in 3A and Cedar Falls in 4A.