The DCI Open Class World Championship Finals on Tuesday, August 4, 2015, featured the top 12 Open Class corps from Monday night’s Prelims competition, plus three International Class units.
The corps once again returned to Ames Field in Michigan City, Indiana, a favorite of the Open Class directors who had voted unanimously to hold their Championship in the city. For possibly the first time ever, the audience for Finals spread across the entire width of the stadium.
Prior to Michigan City, Blue Devils B defeated Vanguard Cadets in four of the first five shows in which both corps competed. Vanguard Cadets then won two shows before the two corps went on separate tours, not meeting until the Open Class Prelims on Monday, August 3, where Vanguard Cadets reasserted their dominance.
In the caption awards, Vanguard Cadets won Best General Effect, Best Visual Performance, Best Brass Performance, Best Percussion Performance, and Best Color Guard. This was the first time in seven years Blue Devils B did not win the Best Percussion Award at the DCI Open Class World Championship.
Legends won the award for Most Improved Corps, and fellow corps directors voted Ibe Sodawalla of Legends as the 2015 Dr. David Kampschroer Leadership Award winner recognizing the Open Class Director of the Year.
There were two judges for Percussion, with scores from each of those pairs of judges averaged together for the total caption score. Unlike last year, there was only one judge each for GE 1, GE 2. 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 effect last year, the General Effect captions are no longer known as Visual GE and Music GE, but rather, General Effect 1 and General Effect 2. Each judge is charged with taking an overall view of every corps’ entire show…much like how the typical fan views a show.
There was one shift in position from Prelims to Finals, with Gold moving ahead of River City Rhythm to finish 8th to River City’s 9th place.
View the complete Open Class recap
Vanguard Cadets (1st-81.225) won every caption except GE1, which it lost to Blue Devils B by 0.10. But due to a 0.20 advantage in GE 2, the corps won Total GE by 0.10. The corps won Total Visual by 0.55 largely due to a 0.60 advantage in Visual Analysis, which accounted for 0.30 of that 0.55. Another 0.20 spread in Visual Proficiency and 0.30 in Color Guard accounted for the remaining 0.25. SCVC won Total Music by 0.25 due to a 0.20 lead in Brass and Music Analysis, and had a 0.05 lead in Percussion. Put it all together and Vanguard Cadets finished with a 0.90 lead over BDB, up from a 0.325 lead in Prelims, when BDB won GE 1, Visual Proficiency, Color Guard, and Percussion.
Blue Devils B (1st-80.325) took 1st in GE 1 and 2nd in the seven remaining captions. The corps’ substantial 4.30 lead over 3rd place Spartans was mostly due to a 2.10 lead in Total GE and a 1.55 lead in Total Music, with Total Visual contributing another 0.65.
Spartans (3rd-76.025) was strongest in Total Visual, in which the corps placed 3rd in all three captions. Total GE tied for 4th with Genesis, with GE 1 in 3rd and GE 2 in 4th. Total Music was the weak link, placing 5th in all three captions. The corps kept Genesis from a medalist position by only 0.275, due to the 0.80 lead in Total Visual, which more than countered the 0.575 loss to Genesis in Total Music.
Genesis (4th-75.750) took 3rd in Total Music, with 3rd place finishes in Music Analysis and Percussion and 4th in Brass. 4th place finishes in GE 2 and Color Guard were followed by 5th in GE 1 and 6th place in Visual Analysis, which, being 0.80 down to Spartans, accounted for 0.40 of the scoring differential once divided in half, which by itself was more than the 0.275 spread between 4th place and the bronze medal.
Legends (5th-75.125) was 4th in both Total Visual and Total Music, and 6th in Total GE. The corps was down 0.80 in Total GE to both Spartans and Genesis, but even if Legends had tied those two corps in Total GE, the corps still would have beaten Genesis by 0.175 for 4th place and would have been only 0.10 out of receiving the bronze medal. As it was, Legends finished only 0.25 above 7th Regiment, entirely due to the 1.10 lead in Total Music and an additional 0.45 lead in Total Visual, overcoming the substantial 1.30 loss to 7th Regiment in Overall GE.
7th Regiment (6th-74.875) placed 3rd in both GE captions and Total GE, outscoring both Spartans and Genesis by 0.50 in Total GE. The corps placed 4th in Total Visual by taking 4th in Visual Analysis and Color Guard and 6th in Visual Proficiency. A 6th place finish in Total Music was due to 6th place finishes in all three Music captions. A healthy 3.75 lead over Music City was due to placing higher than the Nashville corps in all captions except Visual Analysis.
Music City (7th-71.125) placed 5th in Visual Analysis and 7th in the remaining seven captions. The 3.40 lead over Gold was due to advantages in all eight captions.
Gold (8th-67.725) was 8th in Total GE and Total Visual, and 9th in Total Music. The corps received 8th place finishes in GE 1 and Visual Analysis, 10th place in Music Analysis, and 9th in the remaining five captions. The small 0.30 lead over River City Rhythm was due to a 0.60 lead in Total GE and a 0.20 lead in Total Visual, overcoming the 0.50 deficit in Total Music.
River City Rhythm (9th-67.425) was 8th in Total Music and 9th in Total GE and Total Visual, taking 9th in GE 1 and Color Guard and 9th in the remaining six captions. The 3.325 lead over Colt Cadets was due to a 1.50 lead in Total GE, a 0.80 lead in Total Visual, and a 1.025 lead in Total Music.
Colt Cadets (10th-64.100) was 11th in Music Analysis and Percussion, 11th in Total Music, and 10th in both GE captions, all three Visual captions, and Brass, taking 10th in Total GE and Total Visual. The 0.50 lead over Raiders was due to a 0.40 advantage in Total GE and a 0.50 lead in Total Visual, countering the 0.40 loss to Raiders in Total Music.
Raiders (11th-63.600) was 10th in Total Music and 10th in both Total GE and Total Visual. The highest caption was 9th in Music Analysis, with a 10th place finish in Percussion, 12th place in Color Guard, and 11th place in the remaining five captions. The 3.35 lead over Les Stentors was largely due to a substantial 2.15 advantage in Total Music, with an additional 0.50 lead in Total GE and a 0.70 lead in Total Visual.
Les Stentors (12th-60.250) placed 11th in Color Guard and 12th in the remaining seven captions.
View the complete International Class recap
In International Class, Jubal from the Netherlands (1st-68.450) took 1st in seven of the eight captions, placing 2nd in GE 2 by 0.80, which caused the corps to place 2nd in Overall GE. Of the 2.25 lead over 2nd place Gita Surosowan Banten, 1.70 of that came from Jubal’s lead in Overall Music, with Overall Visual contributing an additional 1.15, offsetting the 0.60 loss in Total GE.
Gita Surosowan Banten from Indonesia (2nd-66.200) took 1st in Overall GE, 2nd in Overall Visual, and 3rd in Overall Music. GE 1 placed 1st, with GE 2, Visual Analyis, Color Guard, and Brass placing 2nd. Visual Proficiency, Music Analysis, and Percussion placed 3rd. The 1.375 lead over Chien Kuo was largely due to the 1.30 advantage in Total GE, with Total Visual contributing an additional 0.40, countering the 0.325 loss in Total Music.
Chien Kuo from Taiwan (3rd-64.825) took 2nd in Total Music by placing 2nd in Music Analysis and Percussion. Visual Proficiency also placed 2nd. The remaining five captions placed 3rd, with Total GE and Total Visual also finishing in 3rd.
All Open Class and International Class corps now head to Indianapolis, where they will compete head-to-head with all the World Class corps at the Drum Corps International World Championship Prelims on Thursday. The Open Class corps placing among the top 25 will again compete in Friday’s Semifinals competition."