Carolina Crown improved its streak of consecutive first-place finishes to seven on Saturday night in Alexandria, Kentucky, finishing ahead of four fellow World Class corps at DCI Northern Kentucky presented by Lone Star Percussion.
Finishing with a score of 84.100 and wins in all captions except color guard, the corps also debuted several new field sets that added to a visual theme of deconstruction.
"They had a ton of energy tonight, and they were on,” Carolina Crown executive director Jim Coates said. “Over the next couple weeks, you'll see the show continuing to develop.”
Carolina Crown
Coming in second were the Boston Crusaders, who earned an 81.950 and finished with top honors in the color guard caption over Carolina Crown for the second night in a row.
Boston capped off a strong week with its performance of “Wicked Games” in Alexandria. Heading into Saturday's show, the corps bested The Cadets Wednesday in Atlanta for the first time since 1980 and came within two points of Carolina Crown on Friday in Martin, Tennessee for the first time since 2006.
“First and foremost we have great members; talented members who have worked very hard on a program that I think is extremely well-constructed,” Boston executive director Chris Holland said. “We're certainly enjoying rehearsing everyday and enjoying performing, and that translates competitively.”
As the Crusaders continue to improve, their lead over the Madison Scouts continues to balloon from what was earlier this summer just a two-point margin.
Madison Scouts
Saturday, the Scouts finished third with a score of 76.400 with their latest performance of “The Last Man Standing” — a high energy, post-apocalyptic production that gives a visual nod to the film "Mad Max."
“The past few days have really been where we've figured out the identity of who the 2017 Scouts really are,” drum major Zachary Sheller said. “This performance was the culmination of that. The rehearsals leading into this were us saying, ‘This is who we are.'”
Following the Men from Madison, Spirit of Atlanta (4th, 69.800) concluded a solid week of four performances by coming just shy of breaking 70 points for the first time this season.
With “Crossroads: We Are Here” — a production drum major Philip Martinez said revolves around “the process of making decisions” — Spirit took fourth in every caption, while coming within a point of the Scouts in percussion.
“Honestly, I was very proud of the work everyone's been putting in the last few days,” Martinez said. “I'm really proud of how we've pushed through and they really showed it tonight.”
Jersey Surf
Performing its program “Make it Our Own,” Jersey Surf (5th, 60.750) rounded out the World Class competition, finishing in fifth across all captions.
Also performing in Alexandria was Cincinnati Tradition, which earned a score of 62.950 in All-Age Class competition.
This quintet of DCI corps will join forces in the next week with the rest of the World Class division, as the DCI Tour makes its way to Texas ahead of the San Antonio major regional event on Saturday, June 22.
For DCI Northern Kentucky's victor in particular, next week will open with Crown's first Tour of Champions series event on Tuesday in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.