On Saturday, July 18, all World Class corps came together for the first time this season on the same day, competing at the DCI Southwestern Championship. The show was presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc., and held in San Antonio’s Alamodome, where the top eight corps all surpassed 80 points and the next eight corps all broke 70.

There were two judges for General Effect 1, General Effect 2, and Percussion, with scores from each of those pairs of judges averaged together for the total caption score. The scores of the two Effect captions are counted for full value, but each of the scores of the three Visual captions (Visual Proficiency, Visual Analysis and Color Guard) and three Music captions (Brass, Music Analysis and Percussion) are first divided in half, with each of those half scores added together for the Total Visual and Total Music scores.

As took hold last year, the General Effect captions are known as General Effect 1 and General Effect 2, with each judge taking more of an overall view of every corps’ entire show.

World Class

View the complete World Class scoring recap from San Antonio.

The Cadets (1st-87.625) were 1st in GE 1, GE 2, Brass, Music Analysis, and Percussion, 2nd in Visual Proficiency, 3rd in Visual Analysis, and 4th in Color Guard. As the corps was 0.45 down to Blue Devils in Visual and 0.475 up in Music, it was the 0.40 advantage in GE that kept the Cadets in 1st.

Blue Devils (2nd-87.300) were 1st in Visual Proficiency and Visual Analysis, 2nd in GE 1, GE 2, and Color Guard, and 3rd in Brass, Music Analysis, and Percussion. BD’s spread of 1.10 over Carolina Crown was due to being 0.50 ahead in GE and 0.65 ahead in Visual. The corps was also 0.05 ahead in Music, which made the other caption spreads so important. Despite Crown’s 5th-place finish in Percussion, BD’s 3rd place Percussion score was only 0.20 ahead, for a total of just a 0.10 effect in the final score. Thus, those GE and Visual advantages were critical to BD staying amongst the top-2 corps.

Carolina Crown (3rd-86.200) was 1st in Color Guard, 2nd in Brass and Music Analysis, 3rd in GE 1, 4th in GE 2, Visual Proficiency, and Visual Analysis, and 5th in Percussion. The corps’ 0.575 spread over Bluecoats was due to minor caption spreads. Crown lost to Bluecoats by only 0.05 in GE, but was up 0.25 in Visual and 0.375 in Music. None of those margins was significant, but they all added up to keep the corps in the top-3.

Bluecoats (4th-85.625) was 2nd in Visual Analysis, 3rd in GE 2 and Color Guard, 4th in GE 1, Brass, Music Analysis, and Percussion, and 5th in Visual Proficiency. The corps scored 0.55 ahead of SCV in GE, which accounted for most of the 0.80 spread over SCV. Scoring 0.15 above SCV in Visual and 0.10 above in Music simply sealed the deal.

Santa Clara Vanguard (5th-84.825) was 2nd in Percussion, 3rd in Visual Proficiency, and 5th in the remaining six captions. The corps’ 2.925 spread over Blue Knights was the largest spread between any adjacent corps among the top 21 corps, leading one to suppose the top five corps in San Antonio have a pretty solid lock on staying in the top five, at least for now. SCV enjoyed a 0.70 lead in GE, but it was the 1.45 spread in Visual that accounted for much of the domination over Blue Knights. Half the Visual total was due to SCV’s advantage in Visual Proficiency. To shut the door on BK, SCV further added a 0.775 spread in Music.

Blue Knights (6th-81.900) was 6th in GE 1, GE 2, Visual Proficiency, Music Analysis, and Percussion, 7th in Brass, 8th in Color Guard, and 10th in Visual Analysis. The corps’ spread over Cavaliers was only 0.075, three-quarters of a tenth. BK’s 0.35 advantage in Music was washed out by Cavaliers’ 0.35 lead in Visual. The corps beat Cavaliers by only 0.075 in Music, the same spread as the total score. Although that was less than a tenth, it kept Cavaliers out of the top 6.

The Cavaliers (7th, 81.825) were 6th in Color Guard and Brass, and 7th in the remaining six captions, including ties in both GE captions. The corps tied Phantom Regiment in GE, but stayed 0.85 ahead by topping Regiment by a slight 0.15 in Visual and a much larger 0.70 in Music. Percussion accounted for 0.40 of that 0.70, a majority of the lead over Regiment in Music.

Phantom Regiment (8th, 80.975) was 6th in Visual Analysis, 7th in GE 1 (tie), GE 2 (tie), and Color Guard, 8th in Brass and Music Analysis, 10th in Visual Proficiency, and 12th in Percussion. The corps outscored Madison Scouts by 1.775, with the 0.65 lead in GE and the 0.85 lead in Visual accounting for most of that, with the lead of 0.275 in Music accounting for the remainder. Regiment was 1.10 over Scouts in Color Guard, which accounted for 0.55 of that 0.85 advantage in Visual.

Madison Scouts (9th, 79.200) was 9th in GE 1 and GE 2, Visual Analysis, Brass, and Percussion, 10th in Music Analysis, 11th in Visual Proficiency, and 12th in Color Guard. The corps remained 1.475 above Boston Crusaders, and most of that was the 1.05 lead in GE, making the 0.20 deficit in Visual and the 0.625 advantage in Music relatively inconsequential in comparison.

Boston Crusaders (10th, 77.725) was 8th in Visual Proficiency, 9th in Color Guard, 10th in GE 1 and Percussion, 12th in Visual Analysis, and 13th in GE 2, Brass, and Music Analysis. There was only a 0.575 spread between 10th and 12th place in total score. The corps beat Crossmen by 0.30, of which 0.20 of that was in GE. The two corps were relatively even throughout the recap.

Crossmen (11th-77.425) was 8th in Visual Analysis, 9th in Visual Proficiency, 11th in GE 1, Color Guard, and Music Analysis, and 12th in GE 2, Brass, and Percussion. Crossmen topped Blue Stars by 0.275 by enjoying a 0.25 gain in GE and a 0.85 gain in Visual. But Blue Stars’ 0.75 advantage in Music threatened to turn the tables.

Blue Stars (12th, 77.150) was 8th in Percussion, 9th in Music Analysis, 10th in GE 2 (tie), Color Guard, and Brass, 14th in GE 1 and Visual Analysis, and 15th in Visual Proficiency. The corps kept Troopers out of the top 12 by 0.875, salvaging the 0.35 loss in GE by countering with a 0.50 gain in Visual and a 0.725 lead in Music.

Troopers (13th, 76.275) tied for 10th in GE 2, and was 11th in Brass, 12th in GE 1, Music Analysis, and Percussion (tie), 14th in Visual Proficiency, and 15th in Visual Analysis and Color Guard. The corps’ 1.05 spread over Colts was pretty much entirely due to a 1.15 advantage in GE alone, which was too much for Colts to overcome.

Colts (14th-75.225) was 11th in Visual Analysis, tied for 12th in Percussion, 13th in GE 1, Visual Proficiency, and Color Guard, and 14th in GE 2, Brass, and Music Analysis. The corps stayed 1.15 above Academy, placing almost equal distance between that corps below and Troopers above. The corps enjoyed 0.40 advantages over Academy in both GE and Music.

The Academy (15th-74.075) was 12th in Visual Proficiency, 13th in Visual Analysis, 15th in GE 1, Music Analysis, Brass, and Percussion, and 16th in GE 2 and Color Guard. The 2.275 lead over Spirit of Atlanta came mostly in the 1.35 lead in Visual, assisted by a 0.50 advantage in GE and a 0.425 lead in Music. Each of the three Visual captions was similarly higher than the same captions of Spirit.

Spirit of Atlanta (16th-71.800) was 15th in GE 2 and Brass, 16th in GE 1, Visual Analysis, Color Guard, and Music Analysis, 17th in Visual Proficiency, and 18th in Percussion. The corps stayed 2.325 ahead of both Mandarins and Oregon Crusaders mostly by topping Mandarins by 1.05 in Visual and topping OC by a large spread of 1.95 in GE.

Mandarins (17th tie-69.475) was 16th in Percussion and Visual Analysis, 17th in GE 1 and GE 2, 18th in Music Analysis, 19th in Color Guard and Brass, and 20th in Visual Proficiency. The corps topped Pacific Crest by 2.25 with caption spreads fairly similar across the board.

Oregon Crusaders (17th tie-69.475) was 16th in Visual Proficiency and Brass, 17th in Color Guard, Music Analysis, and Percussion, 18th in GE 1 and GE 2, and 19th in Visual Analysis. Like Mandarins, the corps topped Pacific Crest by enjoying relatively comparable leads across all captions.

Pacific Crest (19th, 67.450) was 17th in Visual Analysis, 18th in Visual Proficiency, Color Guard, and Brass, 19th in GE 1, Music Analysis, and Percussion, and 20th in GE 2.

Cascades (20th, 64.200) was 19th in GE 2 and Visual Proficiency, 20th in GE 1, Visual Analysis, and Music Analysis, 21st in Brass and 22nd in Percussion and Color Guard.

Jersey Surf (21st-63.550) took 20th in Brass, Percussion, and Color Guard, and 21st in the remaining six captions.

Pioneer (22nd-57.775) was 21st in Percussion and 22nd in the remaining seven captions. A 2.00 penalty was assessed after the corps was unable to perform during its scheduled time slot at the beginning of the event due to a transportation issue. Even without the accessed penalty, Pioneer would have finished in 22nd place in San Antonio.

Open Class

View the complete Open Class scoring recap from San Antonio.

Genesis (1st-61.350) took 1st in all captions except for 2nd in Color Guard.

Louisiana Stars (2nd-56.900) captured 1st in Color Guard and 2nd in all other captions except for 3rd in GE 2 and Percussion.

Guardians (3rd-54.950) were 2nd in GE 2 and Percussion and 3rd in all other captions.

International Class

View the complete International Class scoring recap from San Antonio.

Jubal (1st-53.500) was 1st in all captions.