MARION, Indiana — World Championships week is here, and the 2025 DCI Summer Tour is headed toward its grand finale. Monday’s Open Class Prelims at Indiana Wesleyan University set the tone with a full slate of inspired performances and fierce competition.
The kickoff event at Wildcat Stadium featured a diverse lineup of performances, with nine Open Class competitors, five International Class ensembles, and a pair of SoundSport teams in appearance. Ultimately, Spartans (Open) and The Stampede (International) topped the initial scoring leaderboard.
“We have four days left, so we’re taking every run like it’s the last one,” said Spartans drum major Ana Silva. We’re not taking everything for granted, and that’s shown on the field today.”
OPEN CLASS
1. Spartans » 81.225
2. Gold » 79.475
3. Battalion » 79.375
4. Columbians » 76.525
Spartans — who are in pursuit of their third-consecutive Open Class gold medal and fourth in the last five competitive seasons — earned the top spot Saturday by a substantial margin of 1.75 points, and won all scoring captions.
“Tonight’s show was really good,” Silva said. “We’re really excited to be back in Marion; that’s most of what we’ve been talking about today.”
As for Gold and The Battalion — two corps who were separated by just 0.05 points when they met July 31 in Marion, Ohio — a considerably close margin of one tenth went in favor of Gold Monday night. In all three major scoring captions, the two corps were separated by no more than a tenth of a point.
The Battalion, though, should it hold its current placement, would set its new all-time best Open Class finish, and earn a medalist position in its fourth trip to the DCI World Championships.
“Tonight’s show was fantastic and absolutely phenomenal, and I’m so glad to have a run through like that on the field,” said Battalion drum major Linda Segura. “I liked the warmup lot vibes; they’re always chill but very locked in, and this environment tonight was just very good overall.”
5. River City Rhythm » 75.025
6. 7th Regiment » 73.025
7. Raiders » 72.775
River City Rhythm, Raiders, and 7th Regiment were all separated by six tenths of a point in total at their last head-to-head meeting, Saturday in Allendale, Michigan. On Monday, their order shuffled, with the Minnesota corps sliding into a commanding lead over the trio, largely as a result of standout Music scores.
“Tonight’s show was really good; the energy was great,” said River City Rhythm drum major Carter Grupe. “We truly gave our energy out to the press box. I think everyone was really performing and giving it their all today.”
Not far behind, a slim margin separated 7th Regiment for the last spot in the top six, as the Connecticut corps earned an advantage of just 0.25 points thanks especially to its strong lead in Total Visual. Raiders held the higher score in Music captions, with the two nearly deadlocked in General Effect.
For Raiders, the corps’ 35th anniversary has been accompanied by noticeable growth, on the wings of a record-setting season a year ago.
“I think tonight’s show was our best run yet,” said Raiders drum major Mary Lopez. “The energy and morale were really high tonight, and the corps put everything they had out on the field.”
8. Colt Cadets » 71.050
9. Les Stentors » 67.300
Colt Cadets and Les Stentors completed the Open Class portion of Monday’s lineup, earning eighth and ninth place respectively, with the Iowa corps outscoring its Canadian counterpart.
For Colt Cadets, Visual captions were a notable strength as whole, as the corps ranked ahead of Raiders in Color Guard.
“Today’s show was really successful; it was one of the best runs we’ve had,” said Colt Cadets drum major Isabella Ortellado. “We had a really good rehearsal this morning, and all of it paid off really well.”
INTERNATIONAL CLASS
1. The Stampede » 76.125
2. Calgary Stetson Show Band » 66.700
3. High School 57 » 63.900
4. Calgary Round-Up Band » 62.150
5. High School Affiliated with BIT » 59.400
Three Canadian ensembles — all from Calgary, Alberta — and two marching bands from Beijing, China, competed in DCI’s International Class distinction Monday night, with Calgary Stampede Showband taking first place. Stampede won all captions amongst International ensembles.
“Tonight’s run went really well,” said Stampede drum major Ariel Frank. “We worked really hard over the past six months on this show, and so it’s nice to see all the payoff of that. We had a great run this afternoon, and it’s nice to see that reflected in the run we had tonight.”
Fellow Calgary ensembles, Calgary Stetson Show Band (63.900) and Calgary Round-Up Band (62.150) took second and third in the international distinction.
For the pair of bands from Beijing, Monday’s performance was the culmination of a challenging, yet rewarding journey to Indiana. According to tour manager Lin Fu, members of both ensembles felt overjoyed to be performing on the DCI stage.
“What I heard the most this trip was ‘It’s great that we made it,’” said Fu. “Travelling abroad is really difficult for us and especially for the school students. They put lots of time and effort in order to do the training; they even changed the meter measurements to yards. We’re just so surprised and so proud of them.
A pair of ensembles also appeared under the SoundSport heading, including Belgian percussion ensemble DrumSpirit, and Eclipse — an Indianapolis-based ensemble in its third year, which is currently in the process of approval for Open Class participation. Eclipse earned a gold rating Monday.
“Tonight’s show was great,” said Eclipse drum major Lennon Sherard. “We arrived super late and didn’t get a warmup, but that performance was one of our best runs this whole week, so that was really awesome.”
All of Monday’s performing ensembles will appear in Tuesday night’s DCI Open Class World Championship Finals, as corps vie for Open and International Class medals and awards.
