NORMAL -- The excitement of the marching band championships in Normal on Saturday kept hundreds of parents and fans cheering in the stands at Hancock Stadium despite the cool temperatures and strong breezes at times.

"It's a special day --a culmination of a year," said Stephen Steele, director of bands at Illinois State University.

For about 70 percent of the 42 high school bands participating, the State of Illinois Invitational High School Marching Band Championships would be the last performance of the season, Steele said. It started shortly after 7 a.m. and was scheduled to run through to the finals more than 12 hours later.

For some, it was an especially meaningful day. "It's kind of sad," alto saxophone player Vanessa Donaho of Hopedale, a senior, said after the Olympia Spartans finished their performance.

She and her friends said it wasn't difficult meeting at the Stanford-based Olympia school at the early hour of 4:15 a.m. After all, in their freshman year they performed first and had to meet at 3 a.m., she said.

"It's one of our best performances of the year," said Sara Shifflet of McLean, a bass drum player and Olympia senior who may attend ISU next year.

Olympia, with 600 students, had 85 band members, qualifying it for Class 1A and an early start, said parent Carolyn Hansen of Minier, whose son, Eric Hansen, plays saxophone.

Other Central Illinois bands competing this year included University High School, Eureka, Bloomington, Normal Community West, Morton and Pekin high schools.

The early start didn't deter band members' fans, who had planned ahead with warm blankets to sit on and with mittens to keep the chill off their hands.

"We saw a pretty sunrise last year," recalled Amy Ummel of McLean, who cheered on her daughter, Jessalyn.

It was interesting seeing the students "warm up in the pitch dark," said Jennifer Bauersfeld of McLean, whose son Seth was among the Olympia performers. They walked onto the field at 7:28 a.m. and were the second band to perform.

A sea of yellow buses unloaded students, who were ushered into position. Most took to the field within seconds of the time listed on the program. The precision timing is something organizers take pride in. "We've (ISU) been hosting the show since 1973," Steele said.

ISU Big Red Marching Machine students organize and help run the annual event. They also take the field for a special performance at the event every year.

Steele talked about how the organizing team handles challenges. In his first year at ISU in 1987, there was a bomb threat, he said. In 1992 the wind chill was 30 below zero.

"In 36 years they've developed a kind of a flow," he said.

Of course, there are still little glitches behind the scenes. There was a scramble Saturday morning when a printer wouldn't work, preventing results from being passed out. It meant an early morning call to staffers to come in and fix the problem.