Two Long Island marching bands are state champions for 2026. The New York State Field Band Conference lists the Mineola Mustangs as champion of the Small School 1 division and Walt Whitman of South Huntington as champion of Large School 3, both decided at the conference's championships on Sunday, Nov. 1, in Syracuse.

One day, 50 bands

The championships are the last stop of the conference's fall season. This year's ran for a full day on the field at the JMA Wireless Dome at Syracuse University: 50 bands in six divisions, split into morning, afternoon and evening shows, with the first band stepping off at 8 a.m. and the last National class band taking the field after 9 p.m., according to the conference's Dome schedule.

Divisions are set by school size. Large School 3, Large School 2 and National are for larger programs; Small School 1, 2 and 3 for smaller ones. Each band plays its competitive show for judges, and the top score in each division takes the state title.

Long Island's eleven

Long Island sent 11 of the 50 bands, more than one in five. The full list from the schedule:

  • Large School 3: Walt Whitman and Sewanhaka
  • Large School 2: Huntington, Sachem, Copiague and Division Avenue
  • Small School 1: Mineola, Malverne and Roslyn
  • National: Hicksville and Brentwood

Walt Whitman played third in the morning's opening division. Mineola took the field at 5:28 p.m. in the evening show, in an eight-band Small School 1 field that also held Malverne and Roslyn. Roslyn's Marching Bulldogs finished second in that division, as Long Island Wave reported earlier this month, which put two Nassau bands at the top of the same class.

What a title takes

The state show closes a season of weekend regional competitions that runs from late September through October. The conference's 2026 schedule put several of those on Long Island, including Roslyn's show at LIU Post and competitions hosted by Sachem, Mineola and Huntington, before the bands made the drive upstate.

The win keeps Mineola's program in the news this year. In October, a delegation from London came to Mineola to invite the band to march in London's New Year's Day Parade.

Seeing them play

The fall competition season is over, but both bands play through the year at football games, school concerts and community parades in Mineola and South Huntington. The conference posts final scores, archived results and video and photo ordering for the championships on its site, and the school districts list their concert calendars online.

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