Throughout the 2026 Drum Corps International Summer Tour, the Bluecoats have seemingly checked every historic box of a championship run.
On Thursday, the undefeated Ohio corps checked off another milestone common to seven of the last eight gold medalists: leading the field at the DCI World Championship Prelims. The Bluecoats came out on top at Lucas Oil Stadium following an 11-hour marathon featuring 33 corps performances.
“This is everything we’ve been working toward,” Bluecoats drum major Jason Zhang said. “Really, the hope is to live in the moment and just experience it all for what it will be. We’re really excited to throw down for the next two nights.”
View scores and recap from the DCI World Championship Prelims.
1. Bluecoats » 98.300
2. Blue Devils » 97.025
3. Carolina Crown » 96.475
4. Boston Crusaders » 95.438
5. Santa Clara Vanguard » 94.563
Bluecoats maintained a staggering advantage over the field, posting a top mark of 98.300 to lead all competitors Thursday while earning first in all captions except Brass, which went to Carolina Crown. Bluecoats’ winning mark was just 0.25 points shy of the 2014 Blue Devils’ all-time best Prelims score.
“This is my second year with the Bluecoats, and so it’s my second time getting a chance to perform in Lucas Oil,” Zhang said. “It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for the entire year and really, it just feels so special to be here with everyone … it’s the people who made it so magical.”
The race for second place — which has been intensely competitive down the stretch — saw Blue Devils outscore Carolina Crown by 0.55 points. General Effect and Percussion were the difference-makers for the Devils, while the South Carolina corps kept pace thanks to its Visual scores.
“A lot of work and preparation went into this, and I really liked how calm and collected we came into this preliminary round as a corps,” Blue Devils drum major Gabriel Jarata said. “This corps puts our hearts and blood, sweat, tears all into the show, and to share it with the world really means a lot.”
The defending champion Boston Crusaders took fourth place with a tally of 95.438, closing in on what would be a fifth-consecutive top-five finish. Not far behind the Boston corps, Santa Clara Vanguard scored solidly in fifth place Thursday night, with a lead of nearly two points over the sixth-place Blue Stars. The corps’ Percussion caption landed in third place.
6. Blue Stars » 93.200
7. Phantom Regiment » 93.063
8. The Cavaliers » 92.088
9. Colts » 89.938
Blue Stars made significant competitive waves, ranking above Phantom Regiment by a slim margin of 0.137 points and outscoring Santa Clara Vanguard in Color Guard.
The Wisconsin corps’ sixth-place finish would be its highest ever, should it hold serve through the weekend. Regiment, though, kept things very close, largely due to its music scores.
“We’ve been getting into the nitty gritty details of every moment of our show and it’s been amazing to watch it come together,” said Blue Stars drum major Ethan Rich. “The performers all across the field, every caption, have been absolutely working their butt off to get to this moment.”
The Cavaliers weren’t far back from there, taking eighth place and owning a commanding lead over the Colts. In ninth place, the Dubuque, Iowa corps closed in on 90 points for the first time this season, while fending off its nearest competitors by a little over a point.
10. Spirit of Atlanta » 88.700
11. Troopers » 88.688
12. Pacific Crest » 87.350
13. Blue Knights » 86.913
14. Madison Scouts » 86.550
One of the closest pairings on the entire Prelims leaderboard, Spirit of Atlanta ranked above Troopers — for the first time head-to-head this season — by a paper-thin margin of 0.012 points. Spirit, which hasn’t earned a Top 12 position since 2013, and hasn’t ranked higher than 11th in nearly 40 years, led Troopers in General Effect and overall Visual.
While Spirit has history in its crosshairs, the Wyoming corps — which outscored Spirit in overall Music — is aiming to earn its third-consecutive Top 10 finish.
“One thing we talk about is that we build our shows for the end, we don’t build them for the beginning. Everything leads to this moment,” Troopers drum major Simon Beltran said. “The show changes, it advances, our members improve, we change parts of the show, it expands as we see the audience reaction. So to make it here with this final product, we know it’s going to be our final statement of this season.”
Also a featured element in the race for finalist positions, Pacific Crest fended off Blue Knights by just 0.437 points for 12th place. Pacific Crest, which is seeking its first-ever spot in Saturday’s Finals, earned an impressive ninth in Color Guard. The Denver corps finished ahead of its California counterpart in overall Music and ranked 11th in Percussion.
Madison Scouts weren’t far behind the pack, trailing Blue Knights by 0.363, while finishing 12th in General Effect. Scouts drum major Sarah Beth Black noted the corps’ preparation leading up to Prelims and how that resulted in an intense performance. In total, just eight tenths of a point separated Madison Scouts from the Top 12 cutoff mark.
“I think we had a really, really good performance. I think the standing ovation from the crowd really pulled it all together,” she said. “We’ve really been putting in that extra final push during the past couple of rehearsals, and I think we felt that in the run today.”
15. Crossmen » 84.363
16. Music City » 83.975
17. The Academy » 83.363
18. Blue Devils B » 81.525
19. Spartans » 81.125
20. The Battalion » 80.600
21. Seattle Cascades » 79.738
22. Gold » 79.425
Three corps that have spent the season in close competition, Crossmen, Music City and The Academy were separated by a total of one point. Out of the three, Music City led the way in General Effect, but Crossmen’s Visual and Music scores helped the Texas corps earn 15th.
The Nashville corps achieved its all-time highest score on Thursday night; the previous number was last year’s season-ending tally of 83.838. They’ll have one more opportunity to better that mark during Friday’s Semifinals.
In its first trip to the DCI World Championships in two years, Blue Devils B impressed, backing up its Open Class gold medal — earned Tuesday night — by landing above a trio of World Class corps on the leaderboard.
Trailing BDB by a razor-thin margin of 0.4 points, Spartans made its first championship appearance as a World Class organization and showed they more than earned that rank. Spartans’ Color Guard earned a strong result, scoring an impressive 15th place overall.
“I am confident that today’s performance meant something very special to each individual,” Spartans drum major Emily Wehrle said. “We’ve worked so hard, and the Spartans are part of everyone’s life story, and I think this run really encapsulated that.”
The Battalion — which made history Tuesday with a first-place finish at the Open Class Prelims — earned 20th Thursday, narrowly defeating the 21st-place Seattle Cascades by just under a point, largely thanks to strong scores in General Effect. Cascades, though, scored ahead of the Utah corps in overall Visual and overall Music.
After a bronze-medalist finish at the Open Class Finals on Tuesday, Gold earned 22nd place at Thursday’s Prelims, just 0.313 points behind Cascades.
”Tonight’s performance was amazing for me. I’ve been trying really hard, practicing, doing all I can for my team,” said first-year Gold color guard member Prescila Pena. “It’s my first time at Lucas Oil Stadium, and it’s just a really eye-opening experience.”
23. Genesis » 77.438
24. Memphis Blues » 77.225
25. River City Rhythm » 75.00
26. Columbians » 73.600
27. Colt Cadets » 73.350
28. Raiders » 71.050
Memphis Blues locked up a trip to the DCI World Championship Semifinals in its first-ever World Championship appearance, and landed just 0.213 points behind Genesis. River City Rhythm joined the Tennessee corps, backing up last year’s first-ever Semifinalist bid.
READ: Memphis Blues, River City Rhythm secure landmark DCI Semifinalist spots
Columbians finished just outside the Top 25, trailing River City Rhythm by just over a point. The Washington corps matched its 2025 finish, and outpaced RCR in overall Visual.
“As someone from the East Coast coming to a corps in the PNW area, and then coming all the way 2,000 miles back close to my home and performing here is amazing,” Columbians drum major Gabe Pullen said. “The energy was amazing. Down from the first note I could tell everyone’s in it for the long haul, and it was just going to be an amazing run.”
Colt Cadets’ historic season ended with a 27th-place finish, the corps’ best ever; its previous best placement, 29th, was earned in each of the previous two seasons. The Dubuque, Iowa corps also set a new high season-ending score under the current scoring scale, shattering the previous mark of 70.550.
Raiders finished not far behind in 28th place, while overtaking Colt Cadets in Visual Proficiency and Percussion.
29. Les Stentors » 69.800
30. 7th Regiment » 69.475
31. Eclipse » 67.400
32. Heat Wave » 64.450
33. Mercedes Marching Band » 61.800
Les Stentors completed a strong season Thursday, setting its highest-ever final placement in 29th — the previous best, 30th, was earned last season. The corps’ Prelims tally of 69.800 is its highest season-ending mark since Open and World Class corps shifted to a unified scoring scale in 2011.
7th Regiment wrapped its campaign with strong results in the Color Guard and Percussion captions. The New London, Connecticut corps also outscored Les Stentors in overall Music.
With Thursday’s performance — its DCI World Championship debut — Eclipse wrapped up its summer season as an Open Class affiliate corps, and will spend the upcoming offseason working toward full Open Class membership in 2027. Eclipse finished ahead of Les Stentors in Brass.
“When I started in 2023, we were just a weekend corps. We didn’t even do a full tour and now we’re here,” Eclipse drum major Brendan Young said. “If you asked me in 2023 where this corps would be in just four years, I could never have guessed that it would be here.”
WATCH: Eclipse hits the Lucas Oil Stadium turf for the very first time
Heat Wave landed in 32nd place, rounding out the Open Class contingent with a final score of 64.450 in its first Lucas Oil Stadium appearance since 2019.
The Mercedes Marching Band, competing in International Class after traveling all the way to Indianapolis from Costa Rica, took 33rd place with a tally of 61.800, and will also appear at the SoundSport International Music & Food Festival on Saturday.
The Top 25 corps from Thursday’s Prelims advance to Friday’s DCI World Championship Semifinals, with the first corps stepping off at 1:30 p.m. ET. Action begins earlier in the morning with the All-Age Prelims at 8:30 a.m. ET. Both events will stream live on FloMarching.
