Blue Devils stand tall at marquee Stanford event

STANFORD, Calif. – Nearly a dozen ensembles across three competitive divisions converged on one of the DCI Tour’s premier California venues for Sunday’s DCI West event. Stanford University’s Stanford Stadium, a longtime marquee DCI Tour event host, provided a scenic Bay Area backdrop for 11 memorable performances.

World Class competition in Stanford featured a quartet of corps that spent the week leading up to Sunday’s event performing alongside one another throughout central and northern California, at events in Fresno (July 5) and Sacramento (July 8).

For the fifth time in as many appearances on the 2022 DCI Tour, Blue Devils (1st, 82.500) emerged victorious, becoming the fourth World Class corps this season to eclipse 80 points. The Concord corps won all scoring captions, except for percussion, which went the way of Santa Clara Vanguard.

"That was crazy," Blue Devils center sanre Laurent Chang said. "Personally, I felt like that was my best run of the season so far. We're trying to drive through the season, and make sure that we always hold ourselves to a high standard."

 

Vanguard closed in on the 80-point threshold for the first time, scoring within 2.55 of its fellow Bay Area ensemble with a final score of 79.950.

Not too far behind, Mandarins — a corps that has made competitive noise early on in the 2022 Tour — finished third with a score of 76.950. Mandarins' gap of three points behind Santa Clara Vanguard marks the closest the two have ever been. The Sacramento corps was especially successful in general effect. Rounding out the group of World Class participants, Pacific Crest earned a fourth-place score of 63.600.

 

Following back-to-back first-place finishes by Gold in the first two meetings of the San Diego corps, Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets, Blue Devils B jumped ahead by a small margin at Sunday’s event. The Concord corps (1st, 62.550) held an edge of just a tenth and half, largely thanks to leads in the general effect and music captions.

Blue Devils B drum major Maggie Early said that the DCI West event is one that her corps has been looking forward to both in terms of its size and its scope.

“We call this the Mini Indy,” Early said as a nod to the season-ending DCI World Championships in Indiana this August. “And that got everyone really hyped. I think this was one of our better runs we’ve had (this season), and I’m really proud of them and how much they’ve grown.”

 

Gold (2nd, 62.400) continued its momentum from two previous victories, keeping Blue Devils B’s margin of victory razor thin.

The Southern California Open Class corps held a sizable lead in the total visual caption, and was excited to debut a brand-new uniform look near the end of its production.

Second-year Gold drum major Zian Thorne described the uniform reveal as an emotional moment. “I like the crowd reaction we had,” he said. “Amazing performance by Gold here tonight.”

Vanguard Cadets — who cut their deficit behind Gold and Blue Devils B in half between Tuesday and Friday — remained within striking distance of the event’s top-two finishers with a third-place score of 60.700, while also scoring atop the Open Class in color guard. Blue Devils C rounded out the event’s Open Class lineup in fourth-place, with a score of 44.650.

Sunday’s event in Stanford also featured a trio of California SoundSport teams. The Alisal Community Arts Network Marching Band and Alisal Union School District All-Star Academy were joined by Freelancers Alumni as the night’s first three appearing ensembles.

While California’s Open Class ensembles will stay in their home state eyeing a number of upcoming events that will culminate in the 2022 Pacific Coast Open Class Championships (July 22-24), their World Class counterparts will start making their way east for upcoming events in the Rocky Mountain region.

View upcoming events on the 2022 DCI Tour

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