To celebrate Leap Day, take a look back at 10 active corps over the past 20 years who have taken major steps forward in final World Championships score from one summer to the next.
2016 | Gold (+7.113 points)
60.525 ➡️ 67.638
2016 was the start of a rapid rise for Gold, as the Southern California corps jumped from 34th to 30th overall at the DCI World Championships. In the three years since, Gold has risen all the way to 22nd overall and third in Open Class, while improving upon 2016’s score of 67.638 which was, at the time, a corps-best final score.
2013 | Genesis (+11.150 points)
63.500 ➡️ 74.650
Genesis put itself fully on the map in 2013, just its fourth year in competition. After back-to-back seasons finishing sixth in the Open Class division, Genesis rose to medalist status in 2013, while also earning its first of seven consecutive World Championship Semifinals appearances, which is currently an active streak. Genesis’ score of 74.650 in 2013’s Semifinals set a new high for the corps’ final score, one that it didn’t break again until 2017, its first year as a World Class ensemble.
2013 | Troopers (+8.400 points)
77.650 ➡️ 86.050
Troopers’ 2012 season saw the corps drop more than five points and four positions from its previous season, but the corps righted the ship — and then some — in 2013, rising from 18th to 13th overall and increasing its final score by more than eight points. 2013’s final score was Troopers’ best of the 2010s decade, as was the corps’ 13th-place finish, even despite earning decade lows in both categories just one year prior.
2010 | Music City (+8.100 points)
83.850 ➡️ 90.350
In just its second year on tour, Music City stormed onto the scene; the corps earned its first trip to the Open Class Finals and then some, rising from 13th in 2009 to sixth in 2010. Music City didn’t match its 2010 output again until 2013, when the Nashville corps reached the Open Class top five — and the DCI World Championship Semifinals — for the first time.
2010 | Madison Scouts (+6.550 points)
82.400 ➡️ 88.950
Madison Scouts missed out on a finalist position just three times in the first decade of the 21st century; the third of those occasions was 2009, when the corps took 15th. 2010, though, saw Madison rise all the way to 10th and earn its best final score since 2005, while also starting a streak of six-consecutive top-12 finishes for the Scouts.
2008 | Vanguard Cadets (+6.425 points)
90.400 ➡️ 96.825
2008 was just the beginning for Vanguard Cadets, who earned their first of what became five Open Class World Championship titles in the span of 11 seasons, not to mention the three silver medals and two bronze medals in between. Vanguard Cadets’ 2008 score was the corps’ highest ever at the time, and hasn’t been broken since. Granted, Open Class corps shifted to the same scale as World Class corps in 2014, but the closest Vanguard Cadets came to breaking 2008’s final result was a 96.150 earned in 2013.
2007 | Jersey Surf (+9.525 points)
86.175 ➡️ 95.700
2007 was Jersey Surf’s second-to-last season at the Division II/Open Class level, and it saw the corps shoot from seventh to second overall. Prior to 2007, Jersey Surf’s highest final score in history was 90.850, earned in 2000.
2005 | Les Stentors (+7.175 points)
63.400 ➡️ 70.575
Les Stentors put up a strong showing in what was the corps’ last season before a two-year hiatus from World Championship competition, earning its best final score in more than five years and finishing among the Division III top 12. The Canadian corps wouldn’t match its 2005 tally for another five years.
2001 | Raiders (+9.150 points)
80.750 ➡️ 88.500
Raiders have had a handful of significant jumps in score over the past 20 seasons, but 2000-2001 was the most notable, as the corps increased its final number by nearly 10 points year over year. Raiders also improved by 10 placements, jumping from 2000’s 12th-place Division III finish all the way to second in the division in 2001, the corps’ second-highest finish in any classification, behind only its Division III championship season in 2005.
2001 | Seattle Cascades (+10.800 points)
67.500 ➡️ 78.300
Cascades’ change in Division I World Championship score from 2000 to 2001 was one of the few double-digit leaps of all-time, and it was accompanied by a move from 23rd to 17th in overall competition. The Seattle corps capitalized on its 2001 improvement to reach new heights in 2002, the lone World Championship Finals appearance in Cascades’ history.