INDIANAPOLIS — After a season removed from the Top 12 pool of Drum Corps International finalists a year ago, Blue Knights flipped the script Friday at the 2023 DCI World Championship Semifinals with a 12th-place finish, clinching the corps’ return to DCI’s finale event.
Falling short of the Top 12 cut-off in 2022 marked the first time the Denver corps. According to Blue Knights drum major Lainie Metsker, to cap off a memorable season with such a competitive accomplishment meant the world.
“It’s nothing short of amazing,” Metsker said of the corps’ opportunity to earn a Top 12 spot, following its Friday performance. “At the end of the day, what matters most to us is that we put on a production that we feel is best representative of what we can do and who the 2023 Blue Knights are.”
1. Blue Devils » 98.275
2. Bluecoats » 96.988
3. Carolina Crown » 96.950
4. Boston Crusaders » 96.738
Blue Devils opened up an impressive lead over the field as the corps continues to pursue its 21st gold medal and a second-consecutive unbeaten season. The Concord, California corps led the second-place Bluecoats by 1.287 points and won all captions except brass and percussion.
“One thing we emphasized Thursday is that we peak Saturday night,” Blue Devils drum major Corey Castillo said. “Today, it was all about how we can make this show better and ramp everything up another notch.”
Bluecoats, though, moved ahead of Carolina Crown into second place by a paper-thin margin of 0.038 points. While Carolina Crown won brass and scored ahead of Bluecoats in overall music, the Canton, Ohio corps scored ahead by slim margins in overall visual and general effect.
The stage and bright lights inside of Lucas Oil Stadium haven’t stopped Bluecoats’ pursuit of the perfect run. Performing in the venue has only helped the corps max out its full potential.
“It’s been a grind over the past couple weeks, but it’s also a mentality we’ve been enforcing since spring training,” Bluecoats drum major Finley Muela said. “Every single day, we’re trying to max out every single minute, second and hour that we’re together so that we can become the best version of the Bluecoats that we’ve ever had.”
Boston Crusaders rounded out the top four, just 0.212 points behind third-place Carolina Crown. The New England corps scored as high as second in color guard, percussion, brass and visual proficiency.
5. The Cadets » 93.613
6. Mandarins » 93.350
7. Phantom Regiment » 93.163
8. The Cavaliers » 92.038
In the race for the last spot in the top five, just 0.450 points separated The Cadets, Mandarins and Phantom Regiment.
For the second consecutive night, The Cadets held onto fifth place, and kept its lead over Mandarins intact by just 0.263 points. The Erie, Pennsylvania corps outscored its Sacramento-based counterpart in overall music, while Mandarins maintained its sixth-place position Friday and finished ahead of The Cadets in overall visual. The two were separated by a miniscule margin in general effect.
For The Cadets, a top-five finish at Saturday’s Finals would mark the corps’ first such ranking since 2015.
“It was surreal,” Cadets drum major Cat Yang said. “I feel like this past week of rehearsal has just been really great and the members are really pumped. That has been gratifying for me and I know that’s been such a great experience so far.”
In seventh place, Phantom Regiment made up considerable ground on Mandarins, closing its gap from 0.688 points in Thursday’s Prelims to 0.187 in Friday’s Semifinals. In eighth place, The Cavaliers scored ahead of Phantom Regiment in overall music, and finished first overall in percussion.
9. Colts » 90.038
10. Troopers » 88.725
11. Blue Stars » 88.550
Colts, who broke 90 points for the first time in the corps’ history in Thursday’s Prelims, maintained ninth place on the leaderboard with a significant advantage of 1.313 points over Troopers. The Dubuque, Iowa corps — which clinched its second-consecutive Finals appearance Friday — found its most notable competitive stronghold in the visual captions.
“I loved seeing the emotional expression in people’s faces as they get into the performance,” Colts drum major Carissa Blumke said about the corps’ performance Friday night. “You can tell that we’ve gotten past the point where we’re having to think hard throughout the production. We’re able to emote and really portray those emotions to the crowd.”
After finishing close behind in Thursday’s Prelims, Troopers moved ahead of Blue Stars for the final spot in Friday’s Top 10, by a razor-thin margin of 0.175 points. The Casper, Wyoming corps outscored Blue Stars by strong margins in both general effect and overall music, but Blue Stars kept things close with a lead of 1.3 points in overall visual.
12. Blue Knights » 87.088
13. Crossmen » 86.138
14. Pacific Crest » 85.050
15. Spirit of Atlanta » 83.625
Blue Knights earned a lead of 0.95 points over Crossmen for the final spot in the Top 12, namely earning manageable advantages in overall visual and music.
For Crossmen, though, 13th place marked an improvement from the corps’ 2022 final ranking, and the San Antonio corps scored as high as 11th in visual proficiency.
“I feel fantastic about today's run,” Crossmen drum major Bernardo Magallanes said. “It was even better than last night’s run. The emotion on the field was ever so present. I felt it from the front ensemble members to the members on the field. It was amazing.”
With its 14th place finish, Pacific Crest improved by five placements from 2022. Friday’s ranking also tied the Southern California corps’ best ever, earned in 2019.
Spirit of Atlanta concluded its 2023 season in 15th-place Friday. Making its return to the DCI World Championships after a two-year hiatus, the Georgia-based corps outscored Pacific Crest in overall music.
16. Madison Scouts » 82.988
17. Music City » 82.875
18. The Academy » 82.500
19. Spartans » 81.275
In 16th place Friday night was Madison Scouts. The Madison, Wisconsin corps fended off Music City with a close lead of 0.113 points, finding a strong advantage in general effect.
Music City finished in 17th place, which matches the corps’ best-ever placement, while outsourcing Madison Scouts in overall visual. Friday’s score was also the highest score ever for the Nashville, Tennessee corps, by a slim margin over the previous all-time high, earned in Thursday’s Prelims.
Music City’s performance Friday afternoon was also the culmination of all the lessons the corps’ members learned over the course of the summer.
“The thing that most people don’t know about drum corps is that it’s very little about the music,” Music City drum major Connor McCary said. “What everybody learned, aside from all the notes and drill, is how to be better people. We learned how to grow up a little. People are walking away from this whole experience with their lives changed.”
The Academy finished Friday afternoon’s event in 18th place. The Arizona-based corps finished ahead of Music City in general effect and overall visual.
The newly-minted Open Class champions, Spartans surged four spots up the leaderboard in comparison to 2022’s placement, and matched its all-time best World Championship finish, earned in 2019. The Nashua, New Hampshire corps also earned its highest-ever final score, with a tally of 81.275.
Spartans also had the honor of doing an encore performance of its 2023 production, “Surreal” later Friday evening. The performance was a moment Spartans drum major Isabelle Sonia was honored to share with the newer members of the corps.
“They’re so excited,” Sonia said. “To see the crowd after Blue Devils go on is going to be absolutely amazing for them. We have so many new kids; I think there are 10 of us who were there [in 2019.] So for so many kids to experience what an encore performance is like is absolutely amazing and I’m so proud of them.”
20. Gold » 79.913
21. Genesis » 78.775
22. Southwind » 77.450
Gold capped off its 2023 season with a 20th-place finish at Friday’s event. The Open Class silver medalist matched its final placement from 2022 and its highest-ever Semifinals placement.
In 21st place, Genesis earned the same ranking as it did in 2022, and according to drum major Antonio Fox, ended on a resoundingly high note.
“This run was the culmination of everything we’ve built,” Fox said. “This season as a whole was one of the hardest things the corps we’ve ever accomplished. This drum corps came out and did it today and there’s no place I’d rather be.”
Southwind finished its 2023 season in 22nd place, which marks a jump of six placements from 2022. The Alabama-based corps capped off a breakout season Friday; the corps earned its first ever Semifinalist status, and took home a bronze medal August 8 at the DCI Open Class World Championship Finals.
“We knew we had a good product and we were constantly fighting,” Southwind drum major Jacob Heroux said. “We were with our competition the whole season and we were able to see where we were going to be. But overall, the season was good. The staff kept pushing us because they knew what we were capable of.”
23. Jersey Surf » 75.488
24. Columbians » 74.600
25. Seattle Cascades » 73.925
Jersey Surf completed its 2023 season in 23rd place, marking a jump of two placements from 2022. The New Jersey corps’ Friday appearance marked its third time in the Semifinals in as many competitive seasons.
A pair of corps from the Pacific Northwest, Columbians and Seattle Cascades rounded out memorable competitive seasons with 24th- and 25th-place finishes in Friday’s Semifinals.
For Cascades, 2023 marked a return to touring for the first time since 2019, while Columbians’ season was highlighted by a first-ever trip to Indianapolis and the DCI World Championships. The corps made waves throughout the World Championships, earning fourth place in Open Class and 24th overall.
“We all didn’t know whether or not we would make it,” Columbians drum major Korey Tucker revealed about the corps hearing the news after Prelims on August 10. “Some corps know they’ll make it to Semis, they’ll make it to Finals, but we didn’t know. We put in all this work for not knowing and getting that news yesterday was the most incredible thing.”
With Friday’s event in the books, the focus now shifts to Saturday’s winner-take-all DCI World Championship Finals, as 12 corps will vie for leaderboard positions, medals, caption awards and the title of 2023 DCI World Champion.
The season finale event is set to begin Saturday, August 12, at 5:30 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium.