In many regards, the 2024 Drum Corps International Summer Tour was a historic season.
New competitive classifications were originated. And for many participating corps, new competitive heights were reached.
For the following corps, 2024 currently stands as their best yet — that is, based on the criteria of “highest final score ever.”
Note: For Open Class corps, these high scores stand as their highest since 2012. That year the DCI judging system was altered to rate Open and World Class corps on the same numerical scale, making current scoring data incomparable to data prior to that rule change.
1st — Bluecoats, 98.750
Points above previous high (2019): 0.512
Prior to 2024, Bluecoats’ highest-scoring year ever saw the corps earn a silver-medal. In 2019, the Canton, Ohio corps landed in second, scoring 98.238, less than two tenths of a point behind the World Champion Blue Devils.
This year, though, Bluecoats left no stone unturned. Their shot at history became ever-apparent in the middle of July when the corps set the DCI Tour’s highest-ever San Antonio, Texas score, earning a tally of 93.025 at the DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc. The corps ultimately went 18-for-18, earning its first-ever undefeated season, its second gold medal, and its highest final score in their 52-year history.
2nd — Boston Crusaders, 97.413
Points above previous high (2023): 0.512
The historic seasons didn’t stop at gold; Boston Crusaders’ second-ever silver-medalist season saw the corps eclipse its previous high, 97.250, earned in 2022. That summer, the Massachusetts corps earned its first medal of any kind, taking silver in a tie with the Bluecoats.
13th — Pacific Crest, 86.350
Points above previous high (2019): 1.000
For the Southern California corps, its three strongest showings have come in the last four competitive seasons. 2019 saw Pacific Crest set all-time high in placement and score, earning a tally of 85.350 and 14th place — up six placements from 2018.
While the corps dropped down the leaderboard to 19th in 2022, it quickly jumped back to 14th last summer, and set a new standard this year, landing in 13th, just under two points from the Top-12 finalist cutoff.
19th — Spartans, 81.525
Points above previous high (2023): 0.250
This summer, for the third time since 2019, Spartans were named Open Class World Champions.
The two previous times that happened, the New Hampshire corps — just like in 2024 — landed in 19th place. Its final scoring output this year, though, eclipsed the previous high by a slim margin of 0.25 points.
27th — River City Rhythm, 74.075
Points above previous high (2023): 2.900
While River City Rhythm was shy of the Top-25 Semifinalist cutoff in 2024, they emphatically made their own history, smashing a previous best final score by nearly three points.
The Minnesota corps’ 27th-place ranking also serves as its best ever; prior to 2024, River City Rhythm had earned 28th twice since first fielding a corps in 2015.
28th — Raiders, 71.300
Points above previous high (2023): 4.125
Raiders’ 2024 season marked significant improvement from 2024, and set the New Jersey corps’ best score and placement since the alteration of scoring scales in the early 2010s.
For Raiders, 2024 marked the corps’ first time ranking inside the Top 30, and its first time breaking 70 points at season’s end under the current scoring rubric.
29th — Colt Cadets, 70.500
Points above previous high (2023): 0.475
Colt Cadets, ranking among the overall Top 30 for just the second time ever, narrowly topped the corps’ previous best score on the current rubric. That number, earned in 2023, was 70.025.
Honorable Mention
24th Place — The Battalion, 74.250
The Utah corps spent the summer of 2024 making history. In its 10th-anniversary season, The Battalion earned fourth place at the DCI Open Class World Championships, won the award for Most Improved Open Class corps, made a third-ever appearance at the DCI World Championships, and earned a first-ever appearance amongst the Top 25 in the DCI World Championship Semifinals.
And in Semifinals competition, while The Battalion did not set its all-time best score — that was earned in 2023, 74.725 — the corps did set an all-time best placement. The corps also did earn its highest score of all time, even if that wasn't at season's end — The Battalion's tally of 79.813, earned in Open Class World Championship Finals competition, stands as its highest ever,.