The Pella Marching Dutch opened their competition season by nearly defeating all bands at the Urbandale Marching Invitational.

Pella placed 1st in Class 3A with a score of 87.3, winning best Drum Line and Color Guard, and were .3 points shy of overall winner Ankeny. Because of the victory in 3A, Pella’s drum majors (Sam Beukelman, Giovy Eekhoff, Elisabeth Pumphrey, and Stephen Gaul) were able to participate as guest conductors for a portion of performance of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Marching Band.

PCM placed 2nd in Class 2A out of three teams competing. Knoxville competed in Class 3A, and full results were not immediately available.