Day 4 - PRELIMS day

Prelims day has arrived and we feel very ready, calm and prepared.  We had a short 3 hour rehearsal at Centerville today so a late start and an early finish is the plan. But first Rob and Barry headed over to the arena to check in.  Whilst it's a big arena it has an intimate feel and is amazingly calming.

We then headed over to rehearsal which went well - we drilled into a couple of areas and focused on performance, detail and communication.  After rehearsal we headed back to the hotel for some down time.  Two of our American families prepared an amazing Mexican feast for the guard, which was much appreciated and great bonding time.  The guard then headed off for some downtime and show prep.

We headed over to the arena to watch the round before ours so the members could acclimatise themselves to the arena before their performance.  For about half the guard, this is their first time performing at UoD so it was important they feel comfortable and not intimidated by the size of the place!

For many of us who have been to Dayton several times, the process of preparation is becoming very familiar (which is a nice feeling!).  Check-in, body warm-ups, transit, equipment warm-ups, down the tunnel into the holding area and then onto the arena.  With the large tarp we used it was heavy going but all went well and we got on and off well within our time.

Prelims run

Although the prelims show is never a sell out, the crowd was very receptive to Mayflower and they received a full standing ovation.  The guard felt good about their performance.  Much of what we worked on, showed up yet there were still errors than can be fixed.

After our performance it was time for the official photographs and then head back to the hotel and await the prelims score.  As in previous years we congregated in the hotel foyer and had only one person 'refreshing their phone' furiously awaiting WGI to publish the scores.  Being in the last performance round we would know immediately of our position and ranking going into semi finals.  It was a tense 30 mins as we awaited the score.

To much cheering and jubilation, Rob announced that we had scored an 88.3 and placed 4th in our round and 8th overall.  This is an amazing achievement, our highest position ever as well as our highest score.  So some celebrations but also the awareness that tomorrow is a new day and a different set of judges so we can't rest of our laurels and everyone will want to ensure we have an even stronger run tomorrow.

We really appreciate all the support from back home and around the world, it means so much to us and we can feel the love!!

So onto semi finals.....