Saturday night at the DCI World Championship Finals in Indianapolis, Bluecoats entered a new tier of history.
In 2016, the Canton, Ohio corps won its first championship — a level reached by not many corps, but a large handful. In 2024, it became one of just seven corps to win its second championship.
But by many measures, after walking out of Lucas Oil Stadium with gold medals the night of August 8, 2026, Bluecoats could easily and definitively be argued as one of the true all-time greats in drum corps, becoming one of just five drum corps to win three or more gold medals — and earning the fifth 99-point score in DCI’s 54-year history.
“It’s just surreal. After the awards were announced, I just had to stand here and just take it all in, just take a few breaths, and it’ll take me a little bit to process this for sure,” Bluecoats drum major Jason Zheng said. “It’s really incredible having so much hard work pay off, and to be here with everyone. It’s really amazing, this is a feeling like no other.”
To put Bluecoats’ dynastic competitive run in perspective, only five corps have ever earned three or more titles — and they did it in the span of 10 years. They’ve won twice in three years. They haven’t ended a season with fewer than 97 points since 2019, and they’ve been a top-three finisher in all but one of the last 11 seasons.
Slice it any way you want — innovation, consistency, excellence — the Bluecoats are the undisputed, undefeated 2026 DCI World Champions.
“This is something we’ve been working for for a long time, not just this season, but over time, to be a consistent contender for the championship. So this is really special to us,” Bluecoats CFO/COO Genevieve Geisler said. “We’ve been working so incredibly hard to make this happen and to build up the consistency that’s necessary to win caption awards and to win the championship, so we’re really thrilled about it.”
Along with Saturday’s victory, Bluecoats took home all caption awards except Brass — including a first-ever win of the George Zingali Award for Best Color Guard.
View scores and full recap from the DCI World Championship Finals
1. Bluecoats » 99.100
2. Blue Devils » 97.500
3. Carolina Crown » 97.038
4. Boston Crusaders » 95.675
5. Santa Clara Vanguard » 95.025
Down the leaderboard from Bluecoats’ resounding victory, plenty of intriguing competition came to its conclusion Saturday night.
The race for silver came all the way down to the wire, but Blue Devils ultimately emerged by a razor-thin margin of 0.462 points over Carolina Crown, largely boosted by Color Guard and Percussion scores. Blue Devils moved up by two placements from 2025’s fourth-place finish.
Not far behind, Carolina Crown who earned a medalist position for the first time since 2023, took home its eighth total medal, and fourth bronze. Crown also earned the Jim Ott Award for Best Brass Performance, for the ninth time ever and first time since 2023.
“(Winning the Ott) has been a couple years in the making, and it feels incredible. I think all the fruits of our labor have been shown today,” Carolina Crown drum major Carter Block said. “It’s an honor to have it back, and we’re not done.”
Boston Crusaders and Santa Clara Vanguard spent World Championships week getting closer and closer competitively, but the defending champion Crusaders held on to fourth place by 0.65 points, while scoring ahead of Carolina Crown in Color Guard and Percussion.
Vanguard scored second in Percussion, and has now landed in the top five in three of its last five competitive appearances.
“That was one of the most electrifying experiences of my life, I was through the roof,” Santa Clara Vanguard drum major Yash Mahadkar said. “We went out there and we did exactly what we came here to do.”
We’ve obviously been working so hard for it,” added drum major Megan Conlan, “so to have all that work pay off, everything that we’ve done since day one, is really exciting.”
6. Blue Stars » 94.138
7. Phantom Regiment » 92.600
8. The Cavaliers » 92.175
9. Colts » 90.125
Blue Stars took home a groundbreaking placement, earning sixth — its best final ranking since 1977 — while also earning the corps’ best World Class final score ever. Blue Stars scored as high as fifth in Brass and Color Guard, and have now earned three consecutive years inside the top eight — a feat the corps hasn’t achieved since 2008-10.
“The emotions have just hit like an absolute truck. These last couple of days have been super emotional for all of us,” Blue Stars drum major Ethan West said. “No matter what our score is, one night we still have to do the same job the next day in rehearsal, every single rep.”
Phantom Regiment, which took seventh, has now ranked in the top eight for five years in a row, and extended its activity-wide longest streak of Finals appearances to 51 years.
The Cavaliers concluded a strong year in eighth place, and improved upon last year’s finish by one placement. The Rosemont, Illinois corps’ final tally is its best since 2019, and the corps earned an impressive fifth place in Percussion.
Colts broke new competitive ground in 2026, setting an all-time best score in Friday’s Semifinals, and matching the corps’ all-time best placement — from 2023 — in Finals.
10. Spirit of Atlanta » 88.588
11. Troopers » 86.950
12. Blue Knights » 86.175
Spirit of Atlanta stormed back into Saturday night’s event in impressive fashion, locking up 10th place after having not performed in Finals since 2013. Spirit’s 10th place ranking is its best since 1987, and its final score is its best since 1988.
“I genuinely have no words, the energy was just insane the whole time. It was a perfect end of the season,” Spirit of Atlanta drum major Chris Dowis said. “I can’t imagine a better corps to be with or a better end of the season. The closer was electric, everything was just amazing.”
Troopers made their own history Saturday, performing in Finals for the fifth season in a row, which marks the corps’ longest streak of DCI Finals appearances in its history. The Wyoming corps also finished the season over 90 points for just the second time ever — its first was 2025.
After sneaking into Finals by outscoring Pacific Crest by just 0.087 points Friday night, Blue Knights wrapped up back-to-back 12th-place seasons — the corps’ first time in consecutive Finals since 2019.
“It’s been an insane few days, probably the best week of drum corps we’ve had,” Blue Knights drum major Kelsey Wolf said. “Everyone was just locked in on the same page, just fighting for every single second. We’re incredibly proud and we’re here to stay. We’re here to keep pushing.”
