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2022 Daily Run Down


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July 25th Run-Down

Blue Devils C, Columbians, and Golden Empire wrapped up their 2022 seasons in Union City, CA last night. Most impressive is Columbians who top out at 22nd in the rankings after being ranked 40th at this same time in 2019. 

On the East Coast, all four corps saw big score increases from one night to the next. Southwind led the way with a 3.050 increase with 7th Regiment just behind at 3.000 points. 

We have two shows tonight in Texas. In Mesquite, the two main match-ups are Blue Knights-Colts and Mandarins-The Cavaliers. In Corpus Christi, the closest corps competitively are The Academy and Music City. We are entering a few days here where the match-ups are not among the top contenders. That changes on Wednesday when Blue Devils and Boston Crusaders go head-to-head in Hattiesburg, MS.

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July 26th Run-Down

Given that all of the World Class corps (sans Jersey Surf) competed head to head just a couple of days ago, this is a good time to urge extreme caution moving forward when seeing major changes in rankings when some corps are in competition and others are not and when corps are in competition in different shows.

This is the caveat that applies to Blue Stars falling two spots to #9.

This caveat does not apply, however, to The Cavaliers moving up over Mandarins. This was the big jump The Cavaliers have been waiting to see and essentially reverse the slight decrease the corps experienced in San Antonio. The 2.750 points gained by The Cavaliers led the Mesquite show with Mandarins (2.037) and Troopers (2.025) also seeing 2+ point gains. Notably, Genesis had a 1.000 point decrease.

In Corpus Christi, all corps increased from 0.950 points (The Academy) to 1.925 points (The Cadets). There were no significant head-to-head impacts.

Caveats aside, Troopers are making a strong case for their consideration in a 11-14 range rather than the previously discussed 11-13 range. It now seems like a four corps race for the last two finalist spots. 

Just one show tonight to close out the Texas tour. The headliners are Carolina Crown and Santa Clara Vanguard although the Blue Stars-Phantom Regiment match-up could heat up if Phantom Regiment is going to make a run at a higher tier.

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July 27th Run-Down

The final Texas show did not come with any big shocks. The corps that had not competed since Saturday increased in score more than the corps that competed on Monday night with the outlier of Genesis. That corps improved the most (2.100) and that was an increase night over night. Phantom Regiment gained a little ground on Blue Stars, further demonstrating that there's a big shift after the #10 spot.

There are several important match-ups in store for us tonight:

Hattiesburg, MS: Certainly the headline of this show is Boston Crusaders-Blue Devils. Can Boston Crusaders continue climbing and narrow the gap with Blue Devils? The Cavaliers have improved in score a lot since San Antonio. Is the corps actually closing in on The Cadets? What about The Cavaliers/Mandarins? Who is on top today? Further down the charts, The Academy and Music City are within a point of each other as well.

Little Rock, AR: The direct match-ups are not as compelling in this show, but we'll get our first Bluecoats appearance since the regional.

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July 28th Run-Down

Several corps had to pull out of their shows (at least the competitive portions) and it seems like this will be an issue over the next few weeks so I am now noting corps that were scheduled to compete but did not receive a score.

Hattiesburg, MS:

The Boston Crusaders have narrowed the gap with Blue Devils from 1.475 in San Antonio to 0.850 points. Clearly it is an uphill battle to make up the remaining margin, but it certainly appears Boston is making the push.

The Cadets are pulling away from the rest of what I had been referring to as a 6-10 pack. They are now closer in score to #5 than they are to 7-10, however this is a little hard to gauge with Bluecoats and Santa Clara Vanguard not in competition.

The Cavaliers pulled to within 0.100 points of Mandarins after being back 0.563 in San Antonio. 

Crossmen had the greatest point increase at this show, passing both Blue Knights and Colts in non head-to-head scoring. All three are head-to-head on Sunday in Winston-Salem.

Little Rock, AR:

There was not really anything of significant note here, as expected. Madison Scouts put up the largest point increase (1.150) followed closely by Phantom Regiment (1.100). The spread between Blue Stars and Phantom is now only 1.500 points which is all the tighter when you consider Mandarins and The Cavaliers are in there too.

We have a night off tonight and then a big night on Friday. Let's look ahead.

Murfreesboro, TN:

From a medalist perspective, this is the show to watch. Having all of the 2019 Top 6 corps there captures the same group for this year sans The Cadets. This will be a very important momentum starter going into three nights in a row of all of the current Top 5 in head-to-head competition.  The Cadets only join the group for Sunday night's show. Further down the rankings, the main question is whether The Cavaliers can gain on Blue Stars to put pressure on the top of their grouping.

Trussville, AL:

The highlight in this show is the battle for finals. Colts and Crossmen have been very close and Troopers will need to close the gap with both to be considered a contender for a finalist spot. Based on the match-ups, this will be a Friday/Sunday storyline with these three corps and then Blue Knights as well on Sunday only.

Sheffield, PA:

This small Open Class show features the very late season debut of Legends. As silver medalists in 2019, this debut will fill a big hole in the rankings to give us our first complete picture of how things look.

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July 30th Run-Down

Unfortunately, there were no scores from Trussville due to the rain-out and Santa Clara Vanguard does not have a score due to performing a standstill. Music City, on the other hand, returned from a "no score" status to see a very large increase.

Murfreesboro, TN:

  • Bluecoats defeated Carolina Crown in head-to-head competition for the first time this season. The increase in score was also enough to bring the corps slightly closer to Boston Crusaders than the last time the two met up.
  • Blue Devils increased more than Boston Crusaders, extending the spread to the top back over one full point.
  • Blue Stars maintained nearly the same spread over The Cavaliers as their last match-up in San Antonio.
  • Blue Knighs and Music City saw notable score increases. Without direct same-tier competition, we'll need to wait to see if those jumps hold up.

Sheffield, PA

With the debut of Legends, we now have a complete picture of where things stand among the 39 drum corps that will have official scores in the 2022 season. Legends begin at #27 and five points back from Spartans in head-to-head competition. As the 2019 silver and gold medalists, respectively, seeing this match-up for the first time gives a sense of the Open Class competition. Vanguard Cadets and Blue Devils B lead the way, even without scores for several days, and Gold has not been scored in nearly three weeks.

Tonight includes the re-introduction of many Open Class corps to the competition field across two Open Class only shows and Heat Wave and Gold will be in Atlanta. Heat Wave closes its season tonight while two corps (I think) will be making their furthest from home appearances ever - Gold and The Battalion. Assuming all corps compete, the current Top 5 and the current 7-9 are all head-to-head this evening establishing competitive momentum with two weeks to go until finals.

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July 31st Run-Down

Atlanta, GA

Wow! The volatility in scores and placements is very exciting, especially when you consider that The Cadets and the entire battle for the last finalist spots were not participants. 

The Medalists

  • Blue Devils continued their undefeated season with another win. 
  • However, Boston Crusaders and Carolina Crown both made large gains and are now within one point of the top spot.
  • After losing to Bluecoats for the first time Friday night, Carolina Crown came back very strong to best Bluecoats by over 0.800 points.
  • As it was before Santa Clara Vanguard's surge last week, there appears to be a four-way fight for the three medalist positions with SCV needing a lot of things to go their way to sneak in.

The 7-10 Spots

  • The Blue Stars gained some separation with the very tight 8-10 corps.
  • The Cavaliers maintained their small lead over Mandarins, extending it just a little bit.
  • More notably, perhaps, Phantom Regiment is on the move. Not only did Phantom Regiment beat Mandarins head-to-head for the first time this season, they also pulled within the smallest margin of the season with The Cavaliers.

The Rest of the Field

  • The Academy surged in the 15-17 grouping, but some of that surge is a reflection of competition schedule more than a larger movement. The corps' relative placement to Music City is about the same as it was a week earlier in San Antonio while the gap with Madison Scouts was cut in half.

Normal, IL

This was a show of massive score improvements. Below is the corps, points increase and date of last competition with Gold mixed in from the Atlanta show. (Heat Wave is not included since that corps' season concluded.)

  • The Battalion - 9.850 - 7/16
  • Louisiana Stars - 9.100 - 7/14
  • Guardians - 8.075 - 7/21
  • Gold - 7.900 - 7/10
  • River City Rhythm - 6.950 - 7/13
  • Colt Cadets - 2.300 - 7/18

As you can see by the list, while there were large increases for all, the increases were not correlated with the amount of time passed since the last show. It's a bit of a grab bag. The only previous common competition among these corps was a Colt Cadets - River City Rhythm match-up. While RCR consistently won those match-ups, the difference in score increases here pretty much align with the difference in spreads between the two corps.

White Lake, MI

Placements stayed the same from Friday night with Raiders increasing the most in score and Southwind and Legends improving by about 0.500 points on their relative placement with Spartans.

Tonight

Last year's Top 6 and the World Class corps that did not compete last night will meet up tonight in Winston-Salem, NC. In addition seeing the head-to-head match-ups at the top again, The Cavaliers' scores across the two shows will help us think about where the middle of the finalist pack corps are stacking up heading into the final two weeks of the season. I'll do my second regional analysis tomorrow based on this new information. Cross our fingers for the weather!

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August 1st Run-Down

Odder and odder. An already strange DCI Southeastern Championship set-up over two days got stranger with Blue Devils and Carolina Crown rained out of their competitive performances. We work with what we have so we'll assume for now that nothing would have changed in the rankings at the top from Saturday to Sunday given that nothing changed among the corps that did compete.

Boston Crusaders saw a score decrease night over night while Bluecoats and Santa Clara Vanguard earned increases of 0.500 and 0.625 respectively. 

The race for 11th and 12th got even more intriguing with Colts and Crossmen both pulling ahead of Blue Knights for the first time in head-to-head competition. With less than two weeks to go, Blue Knights now find themselves on the outside looking in for a Saturday evening performance in Indianapolis. 

With eight days between performances, Jersey Surf ended up with a 1.400 point decrease as it rejoined tour for the final push. The next couple of days should tell us whether this was a points management issue at the beginning of a large regional show or if the corps really lost ground while away from the competition field.

Top 15 Atlanta comparison over the years

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Full spreadsheet for today

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If the season ended today, the biggest improvements over 2019 would be:

  • Columbians (+19 positions)
  • Guardians (+9 positions)
  • Blue Devils C / Vanguard Cadets (+8 positions)
  • The Battalion (+7 positions)

Columbians and Blue Devils C will see these positional improvements fall over the coming weeks as they are passed by corps still in competition although Columbians will likely stay in the lead despite not competing. Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets will likely move up on this list given the fact that they ended mid-season in 2019. 

In terms of regression:

  • Legends (-7 positions)
  • Blue Knights / Pacific Crest (-6 positions)
  • Louisiana Stars (-5 positions)
  • Jersey Surf (-4 positions)

All of these corps have been in competition in the last two days so these seem like pretty legitimate rankings on this metric. 

Edited by DrumCorpsRadio
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August 2nd Run-Down

The Colts had a statement victory over Blue Knights with a spread of 2.550 points. Since San Antonio, Blue Knights have gone from leading Colts by 0.525 to trailed by 2.550, a massive swing of over 3 points. 

In Open Class, Spartans have set themselves apart from the competition they have faced with the nearest head-to-head competitor (Guardians) just shy of two points back. The Blue Devils B - Spartans - Vanguard Cadets match-up among the three most likely medalist contenders will not occur until Monday, August 8th in Marion at Open Class Prelims.

Tonight's a big night of competition with 22 corps on the field.

Annapolis, MD - The largest of tonight's shows with 8 World Class corps in competition. If Bluecoats are going to make a run at a medalist spot, this head-to-head competition with Blue Devils and no one in between is a place to do it. The Cadets are within striking distance of a 90, which is where the 6th place corps was this time in 2019, at what used to be an organizational home show. 

Sevierville, TN - The battle for 7th-10th is very tight and three of those four corps are in this show: Blue Stars, The Cavaliers, and Mandarins. After flirting with 6th place, Mandarins have falled to 10th, their final position in 2018 and 2019. Does the corps have what it takes for a late season push?

Salem, VA - An odd four-corps World Class show in a state bordering the large eight-corps show on the same night. Attention here will be on the Carolina Crown - Santa Clara Vanguard headliners.

Lima, OH - Four tightly grouped Open Class corps face off here as they jockey for position to challenge the Open Class leaders down the stretch.

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3 minutes ago, DrumCorpsRadio said:

Mandarins have falled to 10th, their final position in 2018 and 2019. Does the corps have what it takes for a late season push?

An errant judge in Atlanta, and not competing for a few days will do that..

After a few days of rest and rehearsals, I think they will be back in the mix tonight. 🤠👍

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August 3rd Run-Down

A lot of scores. Little movement.

The Open Class show scores appear to reflect unusually high increases. This happens a couple of times a season and usually gets corrected over the next several days. I wouldn't think too much about the relative changes in placement resulting from anything shaded in blue. Frankly, there's not a whole lot to write about from last night's results and tonight's shows have already started so I'm going to move along swiftly today!

Tonight

Centerville, OH:

  • Three of the four 7-10 corps are head-to-head. Can The Cavaliers pull even closer with the Blue Stars? Are Mandarins in this group or out of it?
  • Music City is within one point of Madison Scouts for the 15th spot. Is that still the last corps in the theater broadcast in two weeks? If so, this is an important line of demarcation!

Glassboro, NJ:

  • Bluecoats and Boston Crusaders are in a points' tie right now, but Boston Crusaders is cleary ahead in head-to-head competition. There's a sold-out show waiting to watch this battle go down.
  • The Crossmen-Blue Knights match-up is one for 12th place. Crossmen have the edge most recently. Who is in and who is out heading into DCI East?
  • And why not some home town love for Jersey Surf? The corps has been off to a bit of a slow start competitively. Maybe some Jersey style support can propel them into the corps' first regional weekend of the season.

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