vaguardguy

Are you thinking Trumbull HS 2012? There's (for now, at least) a hi-cam video on YouTube.

Any answer other than Magic of Orlando '02 is wrong...flat out wrong (and shows you haven't followed the division(s) long)... ...now the best corps that deserved to be in Open/DivII/III/A/A-60, that's open to debate.

I've been told that by the Chieftain's last competitive season during the summer of 1999, a large majority of the membership was under 21 years old. The BoD decided (I doubt many corps, even in DCA, allow their membership to vote on the direction their corps takes) to suspend the Chieftain's competitive corps and allocate their resources to forming a junior corps. Since so much of their membership was HS students, they viewed it as a fairly logical step. Sometime in 2000, the Lehigh Valley Knights was born and began doing parades. The corps fielded a competitive, DCI DivIII corps from 2001-2004, making finals once (in an era where you pretty much had to be in the top 3 of a field of 30ish DivIII corps to make finals), semifinals three times, and claiming best colorguard twice(ish). The Lehigh Valley Knights folded during the winter of 2005 when the small BoD decided they no longer wanted to put in the logistical efforts to field a DCI corps. Originally, the corps' staff and volunteers comprised a number of Chieftains who were overage. As the corps matured and progressed competitively, their involvement diminished. Despite this, as late as 2003 the Chieftains senior corps still formed and marched alongside the Lehigh Valley Knights in parades as a fundraiser (twice the corps, twice the pay). (edited to answer the question more clearly)

I believe Kiwanis Kavaliers (Div. I) did a show in Ontario their last year fielding a corps (2005). It was mostly a Div. II/III show and I think they were the only Div. I corps competing. Regardless of what you think of Kiwanis, a Div. I corps has been to Canada more recently than 2000. It's just a shame a world class corps hasn't been there in over three years.

Who have the Troopers beaten (typing out loud here from scores I can find): Academy - at least 2008 Blue Devils - 1973 Blue Knights - 1977 Blue Stars - 1973 Bluecoats - 1977 Boston Crusaders - 1973 Cadets - 1972 Carolina Crown - 1990 Cavaliers - 1972 Colts - 1973 Crossmen - 1975 Glassmen - 1980 Madison Scouts - 1972 Mandarins - at least 2008 Pacific Crest - at least 2008 Phantom Regiment - 1972 Pioneer - at least 2008 Santa Clara Vanguard - 1973 Spirit - 1977 So yes, Trooopers make the list. What about Blue Stars: Academy - at least 2008 Blue Devils - 1973 Blue Knights - 1977 Bluecoats - 1977 Boston Crusaders - 1973 Cadets - 1972 Carolina Crown - ??? Cavaliers - 1972 Colts - at least 2008 Crossmen - at least 2008 Glassmen - at least 2008 Madison Scouts - at least 2008 Mandarins - at least 2008 Pacific Crest - at least 2008 Phantom Regiment - Pioneer - at least 2008 Santa Clara Vanguard - 1972 Spirit - at least 2008 Troopers - at least 2008 I think Troopers are a yes and Blue Stars are a no. Corpsreps couldn't show me even any A/A-60 or II/III scores where Blue Stars beat Crown.

Up until the early 2000's, the Royal Crusaders organization fielded a winter drumline that competed in TIA. I marched with a guy who got his start there before Project Percussion came about. I'll PM you his e-mail address. He might be able to (or know someone who can) help you out. There's someone here on DCP who has posted in the Open Class forum once in a very blue moon who's an alum of the DIV III Golden Lancers. I seem to vaguely recall him having a Golden Lancers logo as his avatar. He wasn't very frequent, so good luck on that. Here's their REALLY old website: http://users.stargate.net/~gldci/ Best of luck.

Good morning, I am Chris Roland, the director for the Yorktown High School Colorguard from Arlington, VA. I have a growing, competitive program and am looking for another instructor to fill a vacancy in the staff. The position will entail both design and instruction. Drum corps or competitive winterguard experience is required. Strong weapons experience is preferred. Please feel free to private message me here or e-mail me at christopher.roland@gmail.com if you're interested. Best wishes,

I'm not sure if what you wrote is a typo because the '4' key is nowhere near the '8' key. For the sake of accuracy, it's worth noting that the Marion Cadets finished 8th in 2004, not 4th. Is Michael King still the director? To Marion's credit, they had a fantastic colorguard in 2001 and 2002, and a good drumline in 2003.

Since you're inviting: Raiders went Bb in 2002, the first year Bb horns were allowed in DivII/III.

And all three corps were within an hour and a half's drive of each other too. LVK, CNYC, and Raiders had VERY different strengths and weaknesses. We used to joke about what kind of amazing corps could have been put together if one were to have taken the best aspects of each program.

Glen, again with being a tease. When's someone going to tell you to knock it off :P

LVK = Lehigh Valley Knights We were your corps' rivals back in the day. Compare DivIII championships scores from '02-'04 and you'll see why: 2002 DivIII Semifinals: 6th place - LVK 78.950 7th place - Raiders 78.300 2003 DivIII Semifinals: 4th place - LVK 81.300* 5th place - CNYC (Cadets of New York City) 81.250 6th place - Raiders 81.200 * advances to finals 2004 DivIII Semifinals 5th place - LVK 82.275 6th place - Raiders 79.650 As you can imagine, the rivalry got pretty fierce sometimes. In hindsight, it was all pretty good fun.

Minor correction: I'm fairly certain DCA does not require an honor guard (national flag party), it's just that many (most) corps choose to include one.

If someone wants to browse From the Press Box more thoroughly, they can; but I believe Fever's 18.6 last night ties the highest DivIII guard score awarded ever since the caption was officially scored in 2000. Congratulations!!! I would love to hear any reviews from anyone who's actually seen their colorguard. There's been scant little said about them, but I imagine they must've been very good. Also, having also come from a corps proper who placed 5th on Thursday night, also with a similarly ranked/scored colorguard, I really do hope they have the caption award system fixed so these kats get the recognition they deserve. Maybe it's because it's a little personal and I really hope they'd have the problem fixed by now, but it really does hurt to win your caption at prelims and semis by a wide margin, only to not get the caption award because the rest of the corps couldn't finish in the top 3 to advance to finals. Either way, congratulations Fever on an excellent placement and regardless of whether you get the plaque or not, you can still consider yourselves the best colorguard in DivIII.

I was referring back to the 70's where the A-Class winners were scoring in the low 70's. True, they might have just had REALLY difficult A/A-60/All-Girl sheets, so I am speculating a little. Still, winning Class A with a 71.35 (as did the first Class A champion) should strike even the casual fan as odd. I suspect they were on Open Class sheets back then. 2001 was the last year DivII/III corps could advance to DivI Quarterfinals without any kind of DivI-level commitment the following season. They used to take the top 5 scoring corps from DivII/III Finals (regardless of Division; so usually it was all DivII corps, but the occasional DivIII snuck in). For 2002, in response to complaints from lower-tier DivI corps regarding payouts, they made it so that to compete at DivI Quarterfinals, you had to commit to at least a limited DivI tour the following season. That summer, Magic of Orlando and Capital Regiment agreed to a full tour the next year and Mandarins agreed to a limited tour. Those three went on to compete with great success in DivI Quarterfinals. Following '02, DCI began evaluations for DivI status that were no longer dependent on competitive placement and tour commitment alone.