Warrenton hosted the annual district music festival for the first time in school history on Saturday and produced what school music teachers believe is a record number of qualifiers who will advance to state competition on April 30-May 2 in Columbia. Warrenton students earned a total of 16 top awards in choral competition, including 14 solos, while another four band members earned a "1" rating during the one-day event. Wright City students garnered three top finishes in the band competition, two for solos and one for a trio, and two 1 ratings in the solo choral competition. "Warrenton has never really had a name for anything," said Patrick Wilson, one of the school's 14 individual soloists to earn a 1 rating. "But now we do. Hosting this event was a huge deal for our school. "To see the number of students we had who made it to state was really exciting," Wilson added. Saturday's district competition included around 1,500 students from 27 different schools for the choral and band events. The scheduling and coordination for the district event, which started at 8 a.m. and lasted until nearly 5 p.m., was intense. "We actually finished up just a few minutes early," said Greg Wieberg, Warrenton vocal music director. "I think that tells you how well the event was organized and how well it ran throughout the day." Both Wieberg and Rob Giles, the school's band director, said they weren't really surprised by the performances of any of their students. "Not with the amount of preparation all my kids put in," Wieberg noted. "There's a lot of pressure on them, sure. They practice for about two months and then they have just seven minutes (two songs) to make their case. "Truthfully, I felt we had a few other students who did really well," he added. "I thought some of them might deserve a 1 rating," he added. "We tried to make it as easy as we could for our kids to perform," said Giles, "so we worked with all of them for weeks to get ready. All of them put in a lot of hard work." Wright City students might not have had as many 1 ratings as their counterparts, but they were quite proud of their accomplishments. "I was so excited to get a '1,' " related Dylan King-Lemons, who performed a clarinet solo. "I never expected it. Vocal soloist Taylor Jennings had a special reason for her surprise. "I was nursing a bout of bronchitis," she said. "I had to drink a lot of water throughout the day. When I got my 1, I was so excited I almost cried." And the tuba trio of Doug Schaffer and brothers Dan and Carter Mattheiss had an even more unusual story. "Carter is an eighth-grader who had never played in this event before," Schaffer said. "We have a third regular tuba player in our trio, but he was out of town last weekend. So we had to get Carter to fill in and he played like a real champion." After the long day of competition was finally over, school music officials said they were pleased with the results. "It went off without a hitch," said Giles. "It was really exciting to host the competition and we had no problems." "This was a really big deal for us to host. I heard from a lot of visiting teachers, parents and students," Wieberg added. "They were very complimentary of the way we had it organized." Now the large group of students can fine-tune their skills as they look ahead to state competition. "Actually, I think the districts were more nerve-wracking than state will be," said Wilson. "I don't think the pressure will be as intense."