Pacific Crest has been able to look back in awe. The corps from Southern California came into the 2019 season armed with its production, “Everglow,” a show that at the end of the season has a chance to go down in corps history as the best ever.
At the DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc., Pacific Crest posted a score of 75.200, good for 16th overall at the event and more than a three-point bump from the same event last season.
“We were so excited for this show,” drum major Bianca Dulong said after Pacific Crest’s San Antonio performance. “They were especially pumped this morning during rehearsal and overall since we started.”
It’s produced a different vibe amongst the corps’ members. They walk around with their chests puffed out a bit. Not out of cockiness, but because of confidence.
“I think they’re much more confident than we were (last season),” Dulong said. “I think they’re doing better visually and musically than we were. I think they’re more mature than we were last year, too, so all of that’s adding up to a much higher level.”
Members of Pacific Crest perform at the DCI Southwestern Championship, July 20 in San Antonio.
Pacific Crest started off its 2019 campaign in Vista, California, just over an hour and a half south of its hometown of Diamond Bar. At its debut show, Pacific Crest tallied a score of 62.150, which wasn’t an improvement from last season, an anomaly of its season thus far.
In that time from late June until more than 12,000 packed the Alamodome last Saturday, Pacific Crest has transformed itself into one of the most intriguing drum corps on the DCI Tour, competitively speaking.
From the season’s outset, to now — as Pacific Crest has shot into 16th after finishing 19th or below in each of the last five seasons — the improvements have been a thrill ride.
“After seeing our first really great point jump, that was a huge motivator and it just kept going up,” Dulong said. “They were super proud of themselves. Obviously we don’t want to think about scores too much, because in the end, it’s not about that, but of course, it’s important because it’s a competitive activity and it’s been a huge motivator. We just want our scores to keep going up.”
Members of PacifiC Crest perform at the DCI Southwestern Championship, July 20 in San Antonio.
In the competitive rollercoaster of the 2019 summer season, Pacific Crest has reached some competitive milestones. Earlier in the year, they passed the Troopers for the first time since 2012. In San Antonio, they topped the Madison Scouts for the first time since 2007.
At the moment, if Pacific Crest stays in 16th place, the corps will match its best finish in its 26-year history.
But to Dulong and the corps, those thoughts are on the backburner for now.
“We want to keep improving the show and see where it goes,” she said. We don’t even know how great it could get. I think pushing the level that we know at this point, that’d be an amazing thing to see. I think the biggest goal is at the end of the show, knowing that we did the absolute best that we could.”