With only a couple weeks left before the Drum Corps International World Championship Open Class Quarterfinals in Michigan City, Ind., the Open Class corps have swung into full gear, with major shows on both coasts this past weekend. Just a reminder: When reading about the recaps, please be aware that General Effect (GE) Visual and GE Music are the only two captions that are not divided in half prior to their addition to the final score. When caption spreads are mentioned below, those other than General Effect are first listed with the score given by the particular judge for that caption, followed by a slash and the half-value score that was added to the overall score.
Jersey Surf Summer Classic Here is a glimpse at the Open Class results from the Jersey Surf Summer Classic in Wildwood, N.J.
Jersey Surf (1st, 79.65) won both Visual Effect and Music Effect, all Visual captions (Performance, Ensemble and Color Guard) and Brass, and placed 2nd in Music Ensemble and Percussion. The corps' spread over Citations in Effect was 1.0 in Visual Effect and 0.8 in Music Effect, accounting for all but 0.8 of the corps' 2.6 point spread over Citations. While Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble both had just a 0.2/0.1 advantage over Citations, Color Guard was 0.9/0.45 above Surf's nearest competitor. Brass had a 0.3/0.15 advantage, but Music Ensemble and Percussion both scored 0.4/0.2 under Citations.
Citations (2nd, 77.05) placed 2nd in all captions, with the exception of Music Ensemble and Percussion, the two captions the corps won. The corps enjoyed a 1.4 advantage over 3rd place Raiders in total Effect (combined Visual Effect and Music Effect) and a 0.65 advantage in total Visual (combined Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard). Much of the Visual spread came in Color Guard, which was 3.8/1.9 above Raiders. A 2.2 spread over Raiders in total Music was due to a 1.1/0.55 advantage in Brass, a 0.6/0.3 spread in Percussion and a larger 2.7/1.35 spread in Music Ensemble.
Raiders (3rd, 71.45) placed 3rd in all captions except for Color Guard (6th) and Music Ensemble (5th). The corps enjoyed a 2.6 total spread over 4th place Spartans largely due to a 1.7 advantage in total Effect and a 0.85 advantage in total Music. Due to the 0.9/0.45 deficit to Spartans in Color Guard, the corps outscored Spartans in total Visual by just 0.05.
Spartans (4th, 68.85) took 5th in Visual Effect and Brass and 4th in all other captions. The corps' 1.75 spread over 7th Regiment largely came from a 1.25 advantage in total Visual, as total Effect was just 0.3 above and total Music 0.2 above. The corps' 4th place Color Guard outscored Raiders' guard by 0.9/0.45.
7th Regiment (5th, 67.10) took 3rd in Color Guard and Music Ensemble, 4th in Visual Effect and Brass, 5th in Music Effect, Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble and 6th in Percussion, placing under Spartans' total Effect score by only 0.3 and Spartans' total Music score by 0.2, but falling under Spartans in total Visual by 1.25. The corps placed over Racine Scouts in every caption.
Racine Scouts (6th, 63.80) took 5th in Color Guard, (outscoring Raiders' guard by 0.1/0.55), 6th in both Effect captions and Brass and 7th in all other captions.
Les Stentors (7th, 58.70) took 6th in Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble, 7th in Visual Effect and Brass, 8th in Music Effect and Color Guard and 9th in Percussion, 1.9/0.95 under the next highest Percussion score.
The high point for Targets (8th, 57.90) was a 5th place finish in Percussion. Music Effect placed 7th, Color Guard 9th and all other captions 8th.
Spirit of Newark/New Jersey (9th, 52.85) placed 7th in Color Guard, 8th in Percussion and 9th in all other captions.
California State Open Here is a glimpse at the California State Open in Gilroy, Calif.
Blue Devils B (1st, 81.65) earned a 1.50 spread over Vanguard Cadets by capturing all captions except Color Guard (0.4/0.2 under Vanguard Cadets) and Music Ensemble (0.3/0.15 under Vanguard Cadets). Most of the overall spread came in Effect, with BDB outscoring Vanguard Cadets by 0.8 in Visual Effect and 0.4 in Music Effect.
Vanguard Cadets (2nd, 80.15) placed 2nd in all captions with the exception of Color Guard and Music Ensemble, which the corps won. The corps' 8.3 spread over 3rd place Gold was due most of all to Music Effect, in which the Vanguard Cadets enjoyed a 2.4 advantage, and Percussion, where they outscored Gold by 2.9/1.45.
Gold (3rd, 71.85) placed closest to Vanguard Cadets in Color Guard (0.3/0.15 behind) and Visual Performance, (0.9/0.45 behind). Despite placing 1.6 under 4th place Impulse in total Music, Gold maintained the 0.45 total spread over Impulse by staying up 0.5 in Effect and 1.55 in total Visual.
Impulse (4th, 71.40) stayed within 0.45 of Gold by placing 3rd in Music Effect, Visual Performance and all Music captions (Brass, Music Ensemble and Percussion). That 1.6 advantage in total Music was muted by placing 1.45 under Gold in total Visual, mostly due to a 3.4/1.7 deficit in Color Guard.
Mystikal (5th, 67.65) took 3rd in Visual Ensemble and 4th in Color Guard. While beating Impulse by 1.2 in total Visual, the corps fell behind by 1.9 in total Effect and 3.05 in total Music.
Incognito (6th, 64.95) was 5th in Music Effect, Color Guard, Brass and Music Ensemble and 6th in all other captions, outscoring the higher placing Mystikal in total Music by 0.15.
Blue Devils C (7th, 55.45) placed 7th in all captions.