Friday, August 8, 2014

2014 DCI Prelims leaves much up for grabs

Prelims leaves much up for grabs

Many tight races develop from top to bottom after day one of

 World Championship competition




Blue Devils
Blue Devils came within two tenths of setting a record on Thursday when the Concord corps conquered all at the 2014 DCI World Championship Prelims.

Their score of 98.550 just barely misses the previous Prelims high score of 98.700 held by the 2002 Cavaliers.

Snare drummer Brandon Olander is new to the Blue Devils, and at 16 years old he is the youngest member of the corps. Coming that close to setting a new record was a really exciting moment in his young drum corps career.

“It feels great. We’ve just been working really hard all season, not just for the scores, but also for ourselves. It looks like that work has really paid off,” said Olander.

Blue Devils took home first in all captions except percussion, which was reclaimed by Santa Clara Vanguard (4th, 95.450) with less than one tenth to spare.
Bluecoats
Bluecoats (3rd, 95.800) finished a mere four-tenths ahead of Vanguard and the two corps’ color guards tied for third place.
 
The Cadets, who received second place with a score of 96.925, also took second in the overall general effect, overall visual and overall music captions.
 
Last year’s World Class Champion, Carolina Crown's award-winning horn line finished second by a tenth under the Blue Devils, taking home fifth place (94.750) overall.

The Cavaliers finished sixth with a score of 93.600, while the Blue Knights (7th, 91.650) were more than a point behind the Green Machine.

Blue Knights front ensemble member Heather Rau has enjoyed her time with the corps and is experiencing mixed feelings about the Prelims performance.

“It feels great, but it’s also heart wrenching because you know there are only two more [performances] and then you’re done,” said Rau.
Phantom Regiment
Phantom Regiment’s performance of “Swan Lake” earned them a score of 91.025, good enough for eighth place. Meanwhile, Blue Stars (9th, 89.375) crept ahead of Boston Crusaders (10th, 89.125) for the first time since the 2010 DCI World Championship Finals.

After the first night of competition in Indianapolis, Madison Scouts (11th, 88.425) Crossmen (12th, 86.250), and Colts (13th, 84.725) find themselves on and around the cutoff of the 12 corps who will advance to the Finals competition on Saturday.

Though a little more than one and a half points behind the Crossmen, Colts director Vicki MacFarlane says that her corps members still have plenty of performance left in them.

“Everything we’ve got. Every moment. There’s no letting down,” MacFarlane said. “We shouldn’t depend on numbers to find motivation. Whether we’re 14th, 12th, or anywhere in between or around that, the Colts have the inner drive it takes to be great no matter what anybody says about them.”
Oregon Crusaders
Troopers (14th, 84.600), Spirit of Atlanta (15th, 82.300), the Academy (16th, 81.875) and Oregon Crusaders (17th, 81.050) made it through to perform at the Semifinals on Friday, and joining them is 2014 Open Class World Champion, Blue Devils B (18th, 80.800).

“There were some new challenges we had to face, but that didn’t stop us from performing like the Open Class Champions we are,” said drum major Albert Lin. “We’re basing all our hype off the championship win. We just want to recreate and build off that feeling that we had on Tuesday.”
After Pacific Crest’s 19th place finish (79.375), the Vanguard Cadets (20th, 79.300) join the ranks of the “Top 25.” Mandarins (21st, 77.750) and the Jersey Surf (22nd, 75.550) come next, followed by the last three advancing Open Class groups, Genesis (23rd, 75.175), Spartans (24th, 74.425), and 7th Regiment (25th, 72.350).

This is the first year that 7th Regiment will advance to the Semifinals, a milestone that drum major Dalton Gyorda is proud to say the corps has been working hard for this season.
“We’ve been pushing for it this year, really hoping to take this corps to the next level,” said Gyorda. “We rehearsed all day yesterday, and it’s been a constant process to get better.”
Cascades
Cascades (26th, 72.250), Music City (27th, 71.575), Gold (28th, 71.250), Legends (29th, 71.000), and Pioneer (30th, 68.850) made their final performances at Lucas Oil Stadium Thursday, but the end of the season brings reflection for many of the non-advancing corps.

“At every show, the kids have gotten even better and stronger,” said Gold director Donald Flaherty. “Some seasons you have good shows and bad shows, but this year the corps has been very consistent about getting better. There’s been a tremendous amount of growth.”

The Raiders (31st, 66.250), Colt Cadets (32nd, 63.150), Coastal Surge (33rd, 60.625), Les Stentors (34th, 57.425) and the Racine Scouts (35th, 55.600) also finished their seasons after their Prelims performances.

The Racine Scouts will walk away from their 2014 tour winning the Most Improved Open Class Corps award, as voted on by the Open Class corps directors.
Racine Scouts
“It’s a testament to our hard work, and given the history of the corps, it’s really exciting to receive this recognition. We put in a lot of effort every day, and we love what we do,” said drum major Aeris Kania.

Two international corps, the Blue Saints from Canada (36th, 51.250) and Patria (37th, 46.375) from Guatemala, round out the bottom of the rank, but take home wonderful memories of their competitive tours.

“Being in this stadium with DCI has fulfilled a dream of mine,” said Patria director Gabriel Estrada. “We’ve seen almost every group perform, and we’ve learned a lot form this experience. It’s not very easy for us to travel all this way, but we would love to come back in the future.”

The top 25 corps from tonight’s competition will return to Lucas Oil Stadium to perform in the Semifinals Friday, Aug. 8. The top 12 from that event qualify for the Finals competition on Saturday.

Contributing to this report: Christina Mavroudis, Katy Nowak

2014 DCI Prelims

 Recap Roundup: 2014 World Championship Prelims




Blue Devils (1st, 98.550) took 2nd in Percussion (0.10 under SCV) and 1st in the other seven captions, capturing a perfect score in Visual Analysis.

The Cadets (2nd, 96.925) were 2nd in all captions except the three Music captions, placing 3rd in Music Analysis and 4th in Brass and Percussion.

Bluecoats (3rd, 95.800) was 3rd in General Effect 2, Color Guard, Brass and Percussion, and 4th in GE 1, Visual Proficiency, Visual Analysis and Music Analysis.

Santa Clara Vanguard (4th, 95.450) was 1st in Percussion, 3rd in GE 1 and Visual Analysis, 4th in GE 2 and Color Guard and 5th in Visual Proficiency, Brass and Music Analysis.

Carolina Crown (5th, 94.750) was 2nd in Brass (by 0.10 under BD), 2nd in Music Analysis (by 0.20 under BD), 3rd in Visual Proficiency, 4th in GE 2, 5th in GE 1 and Visual Analysis and 6th in Color Guard and Percussion.

The Cavaliers (6th, 93.600) took 5th in GE 1, Color Guard and Percussion and 6th in the remaining five captions.

Blue Knights (7th, 91.650) placed 6th in Percussion, 7th in GE 1, Visual Analysis, Color Guard and Musical Analysis, 8th in GE 2 and Brass, and 9th in Visual Proficiency.

Phantom Regiment (8th, 91.025) was 7th in GE 2, Visual Proficiency and Brass, 8th in GE 1, Visual Analysis and Music Analysis, and 10th in Color Guard and Percussion.

Blue Stars (9th, 89.375) was 8th in Color Guard, 9th in GE 2, Visual Analysis, Music Analysis and Percussion, 10th in GE 1 and Visual Proficiency, and 11th in Brass.

Boston Crusaders (10th, 89.125) took 8th in Visual Proficiency and Percussion, 9th in GE 2 and Color Guard, 10th in Visual Analysis, Brass and Music Analysis, and 11th in GE 1.

Madison Scouts (11th, 88.425) placed 9th in GE 1 and Brass, 12th in Color Guard and 11th in the remaining five captions.

Crossmen (12th, 86.250) was 11th in Color Guard, 15th in Visual Analysis, and 12th in the remaining six captions.

Colts (13th, 84.725) was 12th in GE 1, and Visual Analysis, 13th in GE 2 and Visual Proficiency, 14th in Color Guard, 15th in Music Analysis, and 17th in Brass and Percussion.

Troopers (14th, 84.600) was 13th in GE 2, Visual Analysis, Color Guard and Brass, 14th in GE 1, Visual Proficiency and Brass, and 15th in Percussion.

Spirit of Atlanta (15th, 82.300) was 13th in Brass and Percussion, 15th in GE 2, Visual Proficiency and Color Guard, 17th in GE 1 and Music Analysis, and 19th in Visual Analysis.

The Academy (16th, 81.875) placed 14th in Music Analysis, 15th in GE 1 and Brass, 16th in Visual Analysis and Percussion, 17th in GE 2, 18th in Visual Proficiency, and 20th in Color Guard.

Oregon Crusaders (17th, 81.050) was 13th in Percussion, 16th in GE 1, Brass and Music Analysis, 17th in Visual Proficiency, 18th in GE 1 and Visual Analysis, and 23rd in Color Guard.

Blue Devils B (18th, 80.800) was 14th in Visual Analysis, 16th in GE 2 and Visual Proficiency, 18th in GE 1 and Color Guard, 19th in Brass and Percussion, and 20th in Music Analysis. BDB was the highest placing and scoring Open Class corps at the Prelims.

Pacific Crest (19th, 79.375) was 17th in Color Guard, 18th in all three Music captions, 20th in GE 1, GE 2 and Visual Proficiency, and 21st in Visual Proficiency.

Vanguard Cadets (20th, 79.300) took 17th in Visual Analysis, 18th in GE 2, 19th in GE 1, Visual Proficiency and Color Guard, 20th in Percussion, and 21st in Brass and Music Analysis.

Mandarins (21st, 77.750) placed 19th in Music Analysis, 20th in GE 1, Brass and Percussion, 21st in GE 2, 22nd in Visual Proficiency and Visual Analysis, and 24th in Color Guard.

Jersey Surf (22nd, 75.550) was 24th in Visual Proficiency and Brass, 25th in Visual Analysis, 26th in Color Guard, and 22nd in the remaining four captions.

Genesis (23rd, 75.175) was 21st in Visual Proficiency and Color Guard, 24th in Visual Proficiency, 26th in Brass, and 23rd in the remaining four captions.

Spartans (24th, 74.425) was 15th in Color Guard, 20th in Visual Analysis, 24th in GE 2 and Percussion, 25th in GE 1, Visual Proficiency and Brass, and 27th in Music Analysis.

7th Regiment (25th, 72.350) will make its first appearance in the Semifinals by placing 23rd in Visual Proficiency and Brass, 25th in Music Analysis and Percussion, 26th in GE 2, 27th in Color Guard, 28th in Visual Analysis, and 29th in GE 1.

The following corps will not be advancing to Friday night’s Semifinals.
Cascades (26th, 72.250) was 22nd in Brass, 30th in Color Guard, and between 24th and 27th in everything else.

Music City (27th, 71.575) was 24th through 30th in all captions.

Gold (28th, 71.250) was 22nd in Color Guard, 23rd in Visual Analysis, and 27th through 30th in the remaining six captions.

Legends (29th, 71.000) was 30th in Percussion and 26th through 29th in everything else.

Pioneer (30th, 68.850) was 26th in Percussion and 29th through 32nd in the remaining seven captions.

Raiders (31st, 66.250) was 28th in Color Guard and 30th or 31st in all other captions.

Colt Cadets (32nd, 63.150) was 31st through 33rd in all captions.

Coastal Surge (33rd, 60.625) was 32nd through 35th in all captions.

Les Stentors (34th, 57.425) placed 34th or 35th in all captions.

Racine Scouts (35th, 55.600) was 33rd through 35th in all captions.

Blue Saints (36th, 51.250) was 37th in Color Guard and 36th in all other captions.

Patria (37th, 46.375) was 36th in Color Guard and 37th in all other captions.