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Tuba player Ethan Sorenson, of Pleasant Grove High School, plays in the American Fork High School marching band. The band wants to raise $250,000 to compete in the nationals.
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Despite an October bus accident that claimed the life of woodwind instructor Heather Christensen, the American Fork High School marching band has been unstoppable.

Three days after the tragedy, the band won the Rocky Mountain Regional competition in Provo. On Friday, they won the state championship. On Saturday, they took first place in a Western regional competition.

The winning streak has unleashed a last-minute groundswell of excitement and speculation over whether the band has what it takes to win the national championship in Indiana this week.

But getting there will require raising about $250,000, making travel arrangements, and getting 225 band members to Indianapolis in time to play on Friday.

"If anyone could throw it together, we could," band leader John Miller said Sunday. "We would love to go."

Miller will meet today with Alpine School District officials and parents to decide whether to make the attempt, said school district spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley.

"If we're going to go for it, I'll send out a news release and we'll do a big campaign," Bromley said. "The band is a huge part of the community and is supported by businesses and people who don't have kids or grandkids in the band. It's a real pride of American Fork and they are very supportive, financially."

The $250,000 cost estimate is based on the band's trip to Indianapolis in 2007, in which about 250 people went at the cost of about $1,000 per

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person. That year, the band finished fourteenth.

This year, because of the economic recession, as well as the fatal bus accident, the band had not planned to compete in the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis.

The notion arose suddenly following the band's latest win Saturday.

"Last night, the director of Bands of America said, 'Look, if you can come, we want you to come,'" Bromley said.

Added Miller: "The renewed energy has become powerful. The parents want the kids to go."

The band's theme is a tribute to the generation of Americans who grew up during the Great Depression and went on to fight in World War II.

Band members, who had been wearing their grandparents' dog tags around their necks while playing, recently added a dog tag in memory of Christensen, who died while trying to keep a bus carrying about 50 students from crashing.

After Christensen's death, Miller said, "the show took on a whole new meaning, emotionally."

Band members are in tears almost every time they play a ballad featuring woodwinds, which Christensen arranged, Miller said.

He called Saturday's performance "a wonderful, very emotional show" during which one of the judges began crying on the field.

The bus crash occurred Oct. 10 on Interstate 15, as the band was returning from a competition in Pocatello, where they had won first place.

Near McCammon, Idaho, the bus veered when the driver had an apparent medical episode. Christensen, 33, grabbed the wheel and tried to steer the bus back on course, but fell out the window when the bus rolled.

A total of 222 students were on the Idaho trip, divided into four buses. Several of the 46 students on the bus that crashed were injured.

shunt@sltrib.com

Winning streak

Oct. 10 » The American Fork High School marching band won a competition in Pocatallo, Idaho. On the return trip, woodwind instructor Heather Christensen was killed when a bus rolled.

Oct. 13 » The band won the Rocky Mountain Regional competition in Provo.

Friday » The band won the state championship.

Saturday » The band took first place in the Bands of America Western Regional Championship in St. George.

Later this week » The band could be competing in Grand National Championships in Indianapolis. But first, school officials must decide to try and raise $250,000 needed for travel expenses.

To donate and help American Fork's marching band reach nationals, call 801-756-8543