SAN ANTONIO — As the DCI Summer Tour marches into its final stretch, the race for a coveted Top 12 finalist spot is sharpening, with early contenders beginning to separate from the pack ahead of the World Championships in Indianapolis.
The DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc. offers one of the clearest snapshots of the season so far, featuring all 20 of DCI’s World Class corps in a single lineup, the only time that will happen this season prior to the final week of the season. As corps depart the Alamo City, there are a handful of groups fighting to punch their Finals tickets.
After an 11th-place finish on Saturday at the Alamodome, Blue Knights are shaping up to be on pace to be one of those finalist corps at the end of the season.
“They’re fighters,” said Blue Knights drum major Adisyn Livingston. “We started the season knowing how we placed last year, and everyone’s okay to admit that, and we’re just, we’re fighting to be who we are this season.”
The Blue Knights are perhaps one of 2025’s most notable turnaround stories on the DCI Tour. After placing 14th in San Antonio a year ago with a score of 79.100, the Denver corps took a noticeable step forward this time around, posting a score of 82.963 Saturday night at the Alamodome.
“This competition is the first time we really get to see the whole group of corps that we’re competing against,” Livingston said. “So, for us, the goal is to perform how we always do, but we’re gonna fight our way into this.”
The result positions Blue Knights as a legitimate contender for a Finals return — something they last achieved in 2023, bookended by nonfinalist finishes in 2022 and 2024.
Momentum is on their side. The corps broke 80 points for the first time this season on July 15 in Albuquerque, a full week earlier than they reached the same milestone in 2023 — a year that ended with a Top 12 finish.
While the Blue Knights have eyes clearly set on a finalist bid, Livingston notes that the corps’ mindset is still focused on getting better with each day.
“We’re not fighting for any placement; we’re not fighting to beat anyone else,” she said. “We’re just fighting to be the Blue Knights.”
Following suit behind the Denver corps, the Colts placed 12th in San Antonio with a score of 82.188. It’s a turn of events since the very first show of the season in Fort Collins, Colorado on June 28, where the Colts held a 2.3-point advantage. At the Alamodome, the Iowa corps managed to top the Blue Knights in the Total Visual and Music Analysis captions.
A Finals bid for the Colts in 2025 would mark the corps’ fourth-straight appearance in the big show in August.
Within striking distance of the Blue Knights and Colts were the Madison Scouts, as the Wisconsin corps placed 13th in San Antonio with a score of 80.738. A highlight on the scoresheet for the Scouts was an 11th-place finish in the Color Guard caption, one spot ahead of Colts and three above Blue Knights.
“[San Antonio] went fantastic,” said Madison Scouts drum major Lex Rodrigues Monteiro. “We’ve been putting in a lot of good work the last two days. We had a really beneficial rehearsal day yesterday, and everything that we worked on showed up tonight.”
In the afterglow of the Southwestern Championship, Blue Knights, Colts and Madison Scouts will have another chance to face off immediately, with the DCI Dallas on Sunday, July 20, marking the last of two more USBands DCI Texas Series events. The finale in the Lone Star State for these corps will be another glimpse into how the season may play out. For now, DCI fans will have to keep their eyes peeled for further competitive intrigue as these corps continue on their 2025 tours against a field of talented corps.
