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2022 Daily Run Down


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August 12th Run-Down

This is not a drill! Finals week is upon us. I enjoyed all of the drum corps action live and in person from 10:30am on. It is always great to see the die hard supporters in the stands all day long. There was a nice core group in my section (239). No one cares, but I'll repeat it anyway. If all you ever see are the top 6, you are missing out on the heart and soul of drum corps (now and in the future). I give a ton of credit to the two performers who can play and march a show as an entire section of a hornline for 13 minutes or as the only weapon in a color guard. If you heap praise on the Bluecoats' keytarist or Troopers' cellist (as you should), then you might be shocked to find out that there are people like that in every corps that marched on Thursday and will not be marching on Friday. Rant over. It was a great day of drum corps!

Let's start from the bottom and work our way up.

The Battalion, Southwind, Legends, Louisiana Stars, River City Rhythm, Les Stenrors, 7th Regiment, Raiders, and Colt Cadets performed their final shows of the season. There was some movement in placements compared to Open Class finals earlier in the week. The Batallion moved ahead of Southwind and Les Stentors moved ahead of 7th Regiment. Congratulations to all of these corps on their seasons. The Battalion came within two points of beating a World Class corps and taking a spot in Semifinals. (I ignore International Class corps in these posts because they do not compete by the same rules and restrictions and do not end up in the final rankings. That said - Calgary Stampede Showband put on a great show that I'm looking forward to seeing again tonight.)

What looked like an opportunity for at least two World Class corps to miss semifinals was resolved with the annual decreaes of Open Class corps' scores coming from Marion to Indy. The adjustments were larger than usual as you can see in the 2019 chart. Guardians gains entry for the first time in the corps' history. Vanguard Cadets maintained its lead over the other Open Class corps and enters semifinals in 18th place overall with what appears to be a decent chance to move up a spot.

The World Class corps put up huge score increases this year, likely a reflection of the several shows that were rained out earlier in the week. It has been clear that the 11-14 race would be tight this year. After finishing in 11th in San Antonio, the Blue Knights have been out of the finalist spot now in Atlanta, Allentown, and Prelims. Sitting in 14th and 1.425 points behind 12th place, the corps has a big task ahead of it to avoid missing finals. Crossmen have been up and down - beginning in 13th in San Antonio, then 12th in Atlanta, and 11th in Allentown. The corps is back to 13th now but just one-half of one-hundreth of a point behind Troopers. Troopers have now been in 12th for two "regional" type events in a row and, from my vantage point, have the biggest crowd support behind them of the corps in this grouping. Colts have some storming back from Allentown, moving from 13th to 11th with a little more than half a point lead over Troopers. You don't want to be out of your seat from 4:30-6:00pm ET tonight when these corps take the field and lay it all on the line. 

The Phantom Regiment - Mandarins battle for 9th and 10th place is one of two fan favorites. Mandarins are on track for no worse than their third 10th place finish in a row. Whlie Phantom Regiment's placement may be equal to or only slightly higher than 2017, 2018, and 2019, there's a definitely feeling of a corps on the rise again.

The Cavaliers have created a fight for 7th with Blue Stars that definitely did not seem in the cards a few weeks ago as The Cavaliers struggled to come back from Covid-related issues. A spread of just 0.237 points separates the two while The Cadets have opened up a spread to put themselves on what appears to be a 6th place island. Speaking of islands, Santa Clara Vanguard has been on the 5th place island all season long and that does not appear to be changing.

And then we have the top 4. If this is slotting, I don't know what that term means. I guess it just means, "I don't want Blue Devils to win" as that is the only corps in this group to have finished in the same position at every regional and prelims. Carolina Crown fell to 4th, its lowest finish of the year in a major competition. The corps trails Bluecoats by 0.150 points. Bluecoats put themselves into medalist contention for the first time since my midseason analysis ahead of San Antonio. They hold a slim lead over Crown and trail Boston Crusaders by 0.800 points. Boston returns to the #2 spot it held in San Antonio and Atlanta trailing the Blue Devils by 0.950 points. Could a corps come in second at prelims and  win finals again? This is a much greater hill to climb than the 0.100 points Blue Devils trailed Bluecoats by in 2019...

All in all - a lot of excitement and room for movement tonight. Time to head downtown!

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August 13th Run-Down

The stage was set for lots of drama at Semifinals, but things generally played out as they were in Prelims.

The Medalists

Blue Devils now lead the nearest competitor by 1.325 points. That expanded lead may not be a huge surprise, but it is an interesting twist to have Bluecoats and Boston Crusaders tied for the #2 spot. Carolina Crown lost ground on any outside chance at the bronze medal. It appears that Blue Devils are extremely heavy favorites for the championship and now a toss-up for second and third.

5-10

In fact Santa Clara Vanguard gained a lot of ground on Crown tonight. That spread is now closer than it is between Crown and the medals. Blue Stars gained on The Cadets; Phantom Regiment gained on The Cavaliers. The only spread here less than a point is between Blue Stars and The Cavaliers.

11-14

This was where the major action was anticipated. In the end, the placements stayed the same as Prelims. Colts and Troopers both made finals. For Colts, it will be the first finals appearance in Indianapolis. For Troopers, it will be the first finals appearance in Indianapolis since the first year (2009). This will be the first time since 2002 (my age-out year!) when two corps make finals that did not make finals the year before. Back then it was Magic of Orlando and Seattle Cascades.

The good fortune for Colts and Troopers mean Crossmen and Blue Knights are on the outside looking in. Crossmen miss finals for the first time since 2013. Blue Knights miss for the first time since 2003. 

The Rest of the Field

Pacific Crest and Gold each gained a spot in the final placements with Genesis falling two spots. 

Perhaps out of the spotlight but Music City finished in 17th place, the corps' highest placement by four spots over the corps' previous high in 2018.

Gold also had the corps' highest finish ever at 20th. The corps' previous high of 22nd was in 2019.

Likewise, Guardians coming in at 24th bested the corps' previous highest placement of 29th from 2019 and 2018.

Blue Devils B finishing in 22nd place represents the corps' lowest placement in Indianapolis. The previous low was 21st in 2012.

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August 14th Run-Down

The 50th anniversary season is now over with Blue Devils crowned champions for the 20th time and a tie for second between Bluecoats and Boston Crusaders. This represents the highest finish ever for Boston.

Phantom Regiment moved up to 8th place at finals, the first change in placement from semifinals to finals since 2017 (The Cavaliers moved from 5th to 4th).

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For the first time since I started doing this type of analysis in 2017, there were no two check-points with exactly the same top 12. 

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New high or low performance in the current competition/scoring model (since 2011):

Boston Crusaders - 2nd is new high (previous - 5th in 2018)
Blue Stars - 7th is new high (previous - 8th in 2018 and 2019)
The Cavaliers - 9th ties lowest (also in 2015)
Mandarins - 10th ties highest (also in 2018 and 2019)
Colts - 11th is new high (previous - 14th in 2014)
Troopers -12th is new high (previous - 13th in 2013 and 2015)
Blue Knights - 14th is new low (previous - 10th in 2012 and 2013)
Music City - 17th is new high (previous - 21st in 2018)
Gold - 20th is new high (previous - 22nd in 2019)
Blue Devils B - 22nd is new low (previous - 21st in 2012)
Guardians - 24th is new high (previous - 29th in 2018 and 2019)
Les Stentors - 32nd is new high (previous - 34th in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2019)
7th Regiment - 33rd is new low (previous - 31st in 2011)

Greatest performance above average by placement in the current competition/scoring model (since 2011):

Music City +8.4
Gold +6.4
Mandarins +6.3
Boston Crusaders +5.4
Guardians +5.2

Greatest performance below average by placement in the current competition/scoring model (since 2011):

Blue Knights -5.2
7th Regiment -4.1
Blue Devils B -3.2
Madison Scounts -3.0
The Cavaliers -2.8

Greatest performance above 2019 placement:

Music City / Troopers +6
Colts / Guardians +5
Boston Crusaders / Phantom Regiment +4

Greatest performance below 2019 placement:

Legends -8
Blue Knights -7
Pacific Crest -5
The Cavaliers / Louisana Stars / Spartans -4

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See you next year! Thanks for reading along.

Edited by DrumCorpsRadio
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