Blue Devils
The 2013 Drum Corps International Tour Monday, July 22 through Sunday, July 28
High scores of the week World Class: Blue Devils (92.90), July 28, Atlanta, GA Open Class: Blue Devils B (85.00), July 27, Kalamazoo, MI. 
High caption scores of the week by section World Class: Brass: Carolina Crown (18.6), July 23, Ocean Springs, MS and July 27, Charlotte, NC Percussion: The Cadets (18.6), July 26, Murfreesboro, TN Color Guard: Carolina Crown (18.8), July 27, Charlotte, NC. 
 

 
Open Class: Brass: Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets (17.0), July 27, Kalamazoo, MI Percussion: Music City (17.6), July 26, Murfreesboro, TN Color Guard: Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets (16.6), July 27, Kalamazoo, MI View all scores and recaps.
 
Storylines to watch
• While Carolina Crown still holds an 11 to 7 lead on the Blue Devils in head-to-head matchups this summer, the Blue Devils have won six of the last seven. Blue Devils' win on July 26 in Murfreesboro, Tenn. was the largest margin of victory (1.05 points) that the Devils have held over Crown all summer, though the two corps were just 0.35 apart in their last meeting in Atlanta, July 28.

Pioneer
• The gap between the Cadets and the Blue Devils (a point or less two weeks ago), widened slightly over the past week to 1.15 in Murfreesboro (7/26) and 1.05 in Charlotte (7/27). However, the Cadets were able to pull into third place at the DCI Southeastern Championship on Sunday under a point (0.90) from the top spot.
• Between the DCI Southwestern Championship on July 20 in San Antonio and the DCI Southeastern Championship on July 28 in Atlanta, Pioneer made the most improvement of any World Class corps, adding 5.85 points between the two events.
• Santa Clara Vanguard, who has consistently been trailing the Cadets this summer, narrowed the gap between the two corps from 1.8 points on July 27 in Charlotte to just 0.65 points a day later in Atlanta, which is the second closest the two corps have finished this summer. It's been nearly a decade since Vanguard has finished ahead of the Cadets, last doing so at the 2004 DCI World Championships in Denver.
• After finishing 2.2 points behind the Cavaliers in Little Rock, Ark., on July 24, the Boston Crusaders narrowed the gap between the two corps to just 0.35 on Sunday in Atlanta. It's the closest Boston has come to the Green Machine since finishing ahead of the corps on June 23 in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Blue Stars
• While Spirit of Atlanta has finished ahead of the Blue Stars at every event this summer, in recent days the Blue Stars have been shaving tenths off the gap between the two corps. The difference between the two corps' final scores in recent events has been: 7/22: Lafayette, La. (1.80), 7/23: Ocean Springs, Miss. (1.50), 7/24: Hattiesburg, Miss. (0.90), 7/25: Opelika, Ala. (0.80), 7/27: Huntsville, Ala. (0.75), 7/28: Atlanta, Ga. (0.55)
• In Open Class competition, Blue Devils B headed east to compete in its first event in nearly two weeks on July 27 in Kalamazoo, Mich. The corps snagged the victory, finishing 1.7 points ahead of the Vanguard Cadets, the largest victory BDB has enjoyed so far this summer.
• After 7th Regiment eked ahead of the Spartans on July 20 in Manchester, N.H., Spartans were back on top July 27 in Kalamazoo with a 1.45-point margin of victory over their fellow East Coast rival.
• Genesis finished just three tenths of a point down from the Spartans on July 27 in Kalamazoo. Prior to this, the closest Genesis had ever come to the Spartans was 3.55 points at the 2011 DCI World Championship Prelims in Indianapolis.

Madison Scouts
• World Class scoring milestones over the last week: Breaking 80 points: Spirit of Atlanta (7/22), Crossmen (7/24), Blue Stars (7/24), Troopers (7/28). Breaking 85 points: The Cavaliers (7/24), Madison Scouts (7/27). Breaking 90 points: Carolina Crown (7/22), The Cadets (7/22), Blue Devils (7/24), Santa Clara Vanguard (7/28)
• In the Open Class, Blue Devils B (85.00), Vanguard Cadets (83.30), Spartans (80.75) and Genesis (80.45) all passed 80 points for the first time this summer on July 27 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Music City (82.10), passed the mark on July 27 in Huntsville, Ala.
• Based on averaging total scores over the last week, the top 12 corps at the World Championship Finals would potentially be: 1. Blue Devils, 2. Carolina Crown, 3. The Cadets, 4. Santa Clara Vanguard, 5. Phantom Regiment, 6. Bluecoats, 7. Madison Scouts, 8. The Cavaliers, 9. Blue Knights, 10. Boston Crusaders,11. Spirit of Atlanta, 12. Blue Stars. (Crossmen, Troopers and Colts marked the next three highest average scores.)
 
This week's upcoming events

Colts
 
Monday, July 29: Rice Lake, WI
Thursday, August 1: 
 
Rome, NY Niles, MI Lawrence, MA
Saturday, August 3: Avon Lake, OH Allentown, PA