Competitive Edge: July 15-21

Overall Rankings

Based on average of all scores earned from July 15-21

1. Bluecoats » 89.928

2. Blue Devils » 89.641 » +2

3. Santa Clara Vanguard » 89.230 » -1

4. Carolina Crown » 87.678 » +1

5. Boston Crusaders » 87.229 » -2

6. The Cavaliers » 86.200

7. Blue Knights » 84.233 » +2

8. Blue Stars » 83.631 » -1

9. The Cadets » 83.438 » -1

10. Mandarins » 81.800

10. Crossmen » 81.800

12. Phantom Regiment » 80.028

~~~

13. Spirit of Atlanta » 78.363

14. The Academy » 76.488 » -1

15. Colts » 75.975 » +1

16. Blue Devils B » 75.283 » +1

17. Pacific Crest » 74.650 » +1

18. Vanguard Cadets » 73.900 » +3

19. Madison Scouts » 73.517 » -3

20. Troopers » 72.229 » -1

21. Gold » 72.183 » +2

22. Spartans » 72.050

23. Legends » 70.450 » +1

24. Music City » 69.867 » -4

25. Genesis » 69.169

~~~

26. Jersey Surf » 67.308 » -4

27. Golden Empire » 67.133 » -1

28. The Battalion » 66.100 » +5

29. Southwind » 66.050 » +1

30. Seattle Cascades » 64.900 » -1

31. 7th Regiment » 64.150

32. Vessel » 63.800 » -5

33. Watchmen » 60.275

34. Guardians » 60.275 » +2

35. Heat Wave » 57.150 » +3

36. Impulse » 56.758 » +1

37. Colt Cadets » 55.450 » -1

38. Incognito » 53.250 » +2

39. Blue Devils C » 52.725 » -1

40. Les Stentors » 51.250

Did Not Compete » Encorps, Shadow, River City Rhythm, Louisiana Stars, Raiders

Completed 2019 Tours » Columbians

Santa Clara Vanguard

Top Caption Scores

Based on Saturday results

General Effect

World Class: Blue Devils (36.725), Bluecoats (36.650), Santa Clara Vanguard (36.125)
Open Class: Blue Devils B (30.500), Vanguard Cadets (30.400), Gold (29.200)

Visual

World Class: Blue Devils (27.475), Bluecoats (27.450), Santa Clara Vanguard (27.075)
Open Class: Blue Devils B (23.250), Vanguard Cadets (22.750), Gold (22.000)

Music

World Class: Santa Clara Vanguard (27.275), Bluecoats (27.113), Blue Devils (26.813)
Open Class: Blue Devils B (22.800), Vanguard Cadets (22.350), Gold (21.850)

Brass

World Class: Carolina Crown (18.200), Santa Clara Vanguard (18.100), Bluecoats (18.000)
Open Class: Blue Devils B (14.800), Vanguard Cadets (14.700), Legends (14.400)

Percussion

World Class: Santa Clara Vanguard (18.300), Bluecoats (18.000), Blue Devils (17.950)
Open Class: Blue Devils B (15.600), Vanguard Cadets (15.300), Gold (15.000)

Color Guard

World Class: Boston Crusaders (18.400), Blue Devils (18.100), Bluecoats (18.000)
Open Class: Blue Devils B (15.800), Vanguard Cadets (15.400), Gold (14.800)

Vessel

What to Watch For

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.

Vanguard Cadets

West Coast wrap-up: Tours for several of California's Open Class corps, including Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets, are officially in the books, but a shortened season didn't stop either of those two corps from putting up impressive numbers. Both groups were able to beat 75 points on the season despite ending three weeks early, and for reference, neither reached that mark until near the tail end of July last season.

Seven, eight, nine: Blue Knights continue to make competitive headlines this season, the most recent of which being the group's seventh-place finish in San Antonio. Saturday marked the Denver corps' first meeting with Blue Stars; the two were separated by just 0.325 in seventh and eighth, with Blue Knights making up for the Wisconsin corps' head-to-head visual win by earning leads in general effect and visual. This week also saw Blue Knights meet The Cadets for the first time; the Allentown corps earned a slim win over the Denver corps Thursday in Denton, but Blue Knights opened up a lead of nearly two points in San Antonio. That said, The Cadets' percussion continues to soar, earning fifth overall at Saturday's event.

Fighting for fourth: While Carolina Crown has beaten Boston Crusaders head-to-head in all but one meeting this season, the two have continued to be quite close in their seven matchups to date. Only once has Crown topped Boston by more than a point, and most recently, the Fort Mill corps' lead was just 0.35 in San Antonio. In fact, Boston Crusaders actually defeated Carolina Crown in general effect and visual, but Crown's lead of more than a point in the music caption — which has been a major strength all season — built the entirety of the corps' overall advantage.

Genesis leapfrogs: Last season, Genesis defeated Music City just once, and it was in the two corps' first meeting of the year. The Nashville corps ended up opening up a lead of 3.7 points by season's end. Music City started out with a lead of 1.25 in its first meeting with Genesis Thursday in Belton, but the Austin, Texas corps pushed ahead to the tune of a 0.288-point lead in its home state, thanks to slim leads in both general effect and visual.

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