Band inspires crowd

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BY JUSTIN ARNOLD sports@chippewa.com
Thursday, October 27, 2005 8:23 AM CDT

Chi-Hi students Amy Dzienkowski and Emily Sauder stood quietly on the track during halftime of Tuesday's WIAA Division 2 playoff football game between Chippewa Falls and Lakeland at Dorais Field.

The two students were among several watching the Marching Cardinals perform the same routine they performed at the state marching band competition in Whitewater two weekends ago.

As the band members crossed the field, fans on both sides of the field gave them a standing ovation.

It was on the return trip from Whitewater on Oct. 16 when the bus carrying members of the band crashed into an overturned semi near Osseo, killing band director Doug Greenhalgh, his wife Therese and their granddaughter Morgan. Student teacher Branden Atherton and bus driver Paul Rasmus also died in the accident.

Sauder, 16, is a member of the marching band but was unable to play Tuesday night because of an injured shoulder. Dzienkowski, 17, plays in the concert band.

Both were silent as their classmates filled the air with music from the movie “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

“It means more than anything,” Dzienkowski said of watching the marching band perform its routine once more.

Sauder agreed.

“It means a lot that they can get out there after all they have gone through and do it again - after all we've been through,” she said.

Before the Marching Cardinals took the field Tuesday, members of the Lakeland dance team wished them good luck as they walked by the band.

The Chi-Hi football team also showed its support for the band as each player had a small black sticker containing a white musical note on the back of their helmets.

“I hope nobody ever has to go through what we had to,” Cardinals football coach Chuck Raykovich said after his team recorded a 33-21 victory. “But it's brought our school closer together.”