Broken Arrow results provide glimpse into tight competition ahead on ‘23 DCI Tour

BROKEN ARROW, Oklahoma — The Blue Devils displayed why they’re the top corps to beat with a first-place finish at DCI Broken Arrow presented by Oklahoma Baptist University Athletic Bands on Tuesday, July 18.

The highly-anticipated event, held at Tiger Memorial Stadium at Broken Arrow High School, featured the first meeting of six of the eight highest-scoring corps this season.

“I felt amazing about the performance,” Blue Devils drum major Corey Castillo said after Tuesday night’s event.

View scores from July 18 in Broken Arrow

High temperatures in the Broken Arrow area caused the California-based corps to spend a portion of its rehearsal day indoors prior to the show start.

“We had an interesting rehearsal day, but we brought the same energy that we would if we had a normal day,” Castillo said. “We were all super excited to come out and (compete against) all the other corps we haven’t seen in awhile.”

1. Blue Devils » 90.450
2. Boston Crusaders » 88.900
3. Bluecoats » 88.650
4. Carolina Crown » 88.100

Continuing to build upon the momentum from the early west-coast stretch of their 2023 season, Blue Devils secured their 10th first-place finish of the season. With a score of 90.450, the 20-time DCI World Champions placed first in all but one caption on the judges’ sheets, color guard, where they finished second.

Blue Devils maintained its lead against Boston Crusaders in the two corps’ second meeting of the season. The lead did not increase by much from their first matchup in Fort Collins, Colorado three days earlier, but the Devils now hold a 1.55-point advantage.

It was a tight finish for the second, third and fourth place corps in Broken Arrow, who were separated by just eight tenths of a point.

 

In second place overall, Boston Crusaders posted second-place marks in the general effect and music captions, which allowed them to finish .25 points ahead of the Bluecoats. The Canton, Ohio corps finished first in the color guard caption and second in visual overall. Bluecoats also finished ahead of Carolina Crown and Boston Crusaders in music and visual analysis.

“It’s exciting to finally be with the people we’ve been looking forward to seeing all summer and the energy on the field was just immaculate,” Bluecoats drum major Finley Muela said about the corps’ performance.

Carolina Crown’s high mark on the Broken Arrow scoresheets was a second-place finish in the visual proficiency subcaption. Crown also finished third in brass, just two tenths behind Boston Crusaders.

“I feel really great about the run,” drum major Cooper St. John said on Tuesday night, three days removed from Crown’s last competition in Little Rock, Arkansas. “We’ve been rehearsing, so it’s really nice to perform in front of an actual crowd again,” St. John added.

5. The Cadets » 84.800
6. Blue Stars » 83.250

The Cadets placed fifth in all scoring captions except from one of two general effect judges, where the corps finished sixth behind Blue Stars.

 

The Broken Arrow event is the first time The Cadets and Blue Stars have gone head to head in 2023. In 2022, the two corps ended the season separated by just 0.138 points with The Cadets holding the advantage.

Phantom Regiment, who was slated to appear in Broken Arrow, pulled out of the competition on Tuesday evening citing health issues that had impacted the drum corps leading up to the event.

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Other #DCI2023 Competitive Notes

As the 2023 DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc. inches closer, several competitive threads are intertwining to create the story of 2023’s first “regional” competition and the second half of the 2023 DCI Tour.

1. Neck-and-Neck out west

 

As several of the DCI Tour’s westernmost participants make their way toward key regional events, a close head-to-head race has unfolded between Pacific Crest and the Blue Knights.

The southern California corps, which scored more than five points behind Blue Knights at the end of its 2022 season, faced a deficit of 3.9 points in its first meeting with the Denver corps, July 7 in Fresno, California, but made a noticeable surge in the ensuing week to earn an advantage of 1.55 points on July 12 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Following its strong showing at the Utah event, Pacific Crest outscored Blue Knights at the two corps’ next head-to-head meeting, July 15 in Fort Collins, Colorado, before the Denver corps gained a lead of 0.05 two days later in Canyon, Texas.

Having earned a tally of 79.250 Tuesday in Abilene, Texas, Pacific Crest stands within one point of its 19th-place final score from 2022, with more than three full weeks still remaining in the 2023 season.

2. Crossmen vs. Madison

The Crossmen and Madison Scouts, two corps that are eager to make a return to the DCI World Championship Finals, have built an intriguing matchup.

Madison Scouts placed ahead of Crossmen in the two corps’ first few meetings this summer. Then, Crossmen surpassed Scouts at the July 14 Dubuque, Iowa event by a margin of 0.55, which the San Antonio corps then followed up the next day in Rockford, Illinois, leading by 0.85 points.

At recent meetings, general effect scores have been a strength for Crossmen in comparison to Madison Scouts, whereas the Madison corps has found a consistent advantage in the music captions.

3. Mandarins making moves

 

In the two corps’ first meeting of the season, July 18 in Texas, Mandarins placed ahead of The Cavaliers and earned their second first-place finish of the 2023 season. The Sacramento-based corps, with a score of 85.850, scored 2.9 points ahead of The Cavaliers Tuesday night.

For context, prior to Tuesday night, Mandarins’ first and only head-to-head victory over The Cavaliers came by 0.563 points at 2022’s marquee San Antonio event. The Cavaliers, in ninth place, outscored Mandarins, in 10th, by 0.587 at the 2022 DCI World Championship Finals.

The corps from Rosemont, Illinois, however, did place ahead of Mandarins in the percussion subcaption on Tuesday night. That percussion advantage helped the Green Machine finish closely behind Mandarins in the music caption overall, scoring just .05 points behind the California-based corps.

4. Midwestern battle

Troopers and Colts have already met at the same event seven times this season, with very little separation between the two corps.

The Casper, Wyoming corps has finished ahead of Colts in six of the two corps’ seven meetings. The Dubuque-based corps’ lone head-to-head victory against Troopers came July 9 in La Crosse, Wisconsin; Colts held an advantage of 0.3 points propelled by high marks in the general effect and visual captions.

Troopers moved back ahead of Colts July 12 in Ankeny, Iowa, by a slim margin of 0.35. Over the course of the first stretch of the season, Troopers has consistently placed above Colts in visual proficiency, visual analysis, brass and music analysis. Troopers and Colts also tied in the general effect caption at the Ankeny event.

Since their July 12 meeting, Troopers and Colts have since gone their separate ways on the DCI Tour map, but will soon meet again in San Antonio.

5. Curtain calls and continuing on

 

A host of California-based DCI Open Class corps have concluded their 2023 season. Blue Devils B, Blue Devils C, Golden Empire, Impulse and Vessel all wrapped up their respective tours at the July 16 Bellflower, California event.

Only one corps from the Bellflower event, Gold, will continue on through the second half of the DCI Tour. During the California leg of the corps’ tour, Gold finished in second in all but one event, placing first at the Pasadena, California event on July 8.

The San Diego-based corps will head to the Northeast on July 23 for DCI Connecticut, where it will meet Spartans for the first time this season. The two corps only met during World Championships Week last season, with Gold placing ahead of Spartans in each of those appearances.

View all upcoming events on the 2023 DCI Tour