The Rockdale County High School Winter Guard, under the direction of Russell Bertles, won the gold medal at the Southern Association for Performance Arts Championships in Macon on April 2.

"These young ladies work 6-10 hours a week from November until April perfecting a routine for performance," Scott T. Stanton, director of bands/fine arts chair wrote in an email.

This is the third year in a row that the ladies have earned a medal at the event. In 2009 the guard also won gold while in 2010 they placed third for a bronze.

The RCHS guard also tied with the Rockdale Future HeRoS (Conyers Middle School and Memorial Middle School combined winter guard) for the Sportsmanship Award. Finally, the girls earned six first place awards and one third place award in their seven competitions prior to finals