LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Lubbock High School marching band is preparing to compete at the state contest, for the second year in a row.

From summer band practices to marching in the Alamodome, the Westerners are ready to show off what they learned this season.

Friday afternoon, the band had its last home practice before leaving for San Antonio Sunday morning. The Westerners will practice on the road in San Marcos, before performing at the state competition at 9:35 a.m. Monday.

Sophomore saxophone player Anna Johnson remembers what it was like to represent the Hub City in San Antonio last year.

"It was incredible, especially to be able to go as a freshman. I know a lot of the seniors had to kind of work their way up there. They didn't get to go until their senior year, last year," she said. "So, just to be able to go as a freshman and step into that huge dome, it was just enthralling, like it was so cool."

The band also made it to state in 2017, but that was the Westerners' first appearance in 33 years. Senior Drum Major Toby Tiner says Band Director Dallas Bayless has played a major role in the band's recent success.

"It's been like a complete overhaul of the band program, steady improvement since he's come in," he said. "Created like just a lot of work ethic from these new freshmen, especially. I don't know what clicked, but something happened."

Bayless says while it's the same band program, it's not the same band from year to year.

"This year, we have 17 seniors and we have 81 freshmen in the band. So, it's really a whole different band. So, it was like starting from scratch," he said.

Freshman Bella Brockway is not only stoked about making it to state her first year, but about the show behind it.

After thinking about it for a decade, Bayless created the show "Dash." It tells the story of life, representing the dash between the year you are born and the year you die, and the metaphor of life as a race. It goes from birth to childhood, graduation, wedding bells, careers and celebrating it all as you get older.

"It's such a cool show to have for my freshman year," Brockway said. "Lots of music is a story, but especially with our show, how it says the story of life and the story of the race of life, I think it's such a cool thing to have."

While the Westerners hope to earn top scores, Bayless says that's not what's most important.

"I love music. I'm all about music, but what we do here at band is we build better people. They learn discipline, they learn teamwork and they learn leadership. They learn how to be a part of something that's bigger than just themselves," he said.

Bayless says he will livestream the performance Monday morning on the Lubbock High School Westerner Band Facebook page.

The Westerner band boosters also helped raise more than $4,000 from community members to help support the band's trip to state.