Competitive Edge: July 15-21

Breaking records out west: Watchmen, Vessel, Incognito and The Battalion all reached new milestones on the West Coast, as each broke its all-time record score this weekend. For The Battalion, Saturday’s 67.750 in Vista broke a record of 67.300 set at the end of 2018. Watchmen passed 60 points for the first time this weekend, topping a record score of 59.800. Finally, Vessel shattered its all-time high (60.700), earning a result of 64.500. All three corps will have two more chances this week to build upon their impressive recent outputs. While Incognito won’t be competing again, the corps’ 54.550 crushes its previous best by more than four points. 

Top of the class: After Saturday’s marquee showdown in San Antonio, the race at the top is as tight as it’s been in recent memory, with Bluecoats and Blue Devils being separated by two tenths of a point. Santa Clara Vanguard, in third place, found itself just about three-quarters of a point from the top spot. For the top two, though, the caption breakdown has been all over the place. Friday in Katy, Bluecoats earned leads over Blue Devils in general effect, while the Concord corps found an advantage in music. In San Antonio, that exact breakdown was flipped on its head. The two will meet again Monday night in Mesquite, and Vanguard will be back in the mix later this week, Friday in Murfreesboro. 

Pacific Crest surging: In its first opportunity to check in with many of DCI’s eastern and midwestern corps, the Southern California corps made major headlines this weekend, scoring ahead of Madison Scouts for the first time since 2007 to take 16th in San Antonio. This comes just a couple of weeks after the corps defeated Troopers for the first time since 2012. The corps has had a serious edge in general effect; Pacific Crest tied 15th-place Colts in that caption, and used its advantage there to pass Madison Scouts by 1.7 points. If the Diamond Bar corps were to hold onto its 16th-place position, it would match its highest finish ever, most recently earned in 2012 and 2013. 

Racing for the Top 10: Crossmen and Mandarins have been neck-and-neck in the past two weeks; in four meetings, they’ve each beaten one another twice, with the Sacramento corps holding the most recent advantage in San Antonio. Mandarins topped Crossmen by just three tenths of a point to take 10th in Texas, and that’s largely due to the visual caption, where Mandarins led their San Antonio-based opponent by half a point. That said, Crossmen held a lead in music. These two won’t meet again until Saturday’s marquee Atlanta event. 

Open Class heats up out east: After having their Wednesday meeting canceled for weather, Spartans and Legends finally had their first opportunity to face off Saturday in New England. For reference, last season, the two were side-by-side all season; Legends edged Spartans at Open Class Finals, but the script was flipped in Indianapolis, as Spartans pushed ahead for the very last spot in the DCI World Championship Semifinals. At Saturday’s Nashua, New Hampshire event, the hometown Spartans topped the charts, defeating Legends by 1.6 points despite the Kalamazoo, Michigan corps holding a lead in the music caption. Spartans’ dominance in the visual caption, as well as a solid lead in general effect, made the difference and then some.