MUNCIE, Indiana — Carolina Crown earned its fourth consecutive win Friday night, topping a lineup of seven World Class corps at the DCI Central Indiana event on the campus of Ball State University.
With a final tally of 76.050, the Fort Mill corps continued its strong start to the season with a complete sweep of the night’s caption scores.
“I think the opportunities are endless, and the sky is our limit,” Carolina Crown drum major Andrew Morrison said. “This is a very special drum corps this year, and regardless of any sort of placement, this is going to be one of those summers people never forget for the rest of their lives.”
View all DCI Central Indiana scores
Blue Stars
Blue Stars (2nd, 71.800) built upon an impressive opening string of performances, pulling within five points of Crown for the first time since 2011. The La Crosse, Wisconsin corps put up a strong number in the color guard caption, scoring just one tenth of a point off of the lead.
Behind the top two, plenty of competitive intrigue filled the scoresheets, as Crossmen (3rd, 69.800), Spirit of Atlanta (4th, 68.750) and Phantom Regiment (5th, 67.300) continued close competition.
Coming off of a stretch of rehearsals, Regiment’s percussion stood out from the pack, finishing in the event’s overall top three behind Carolina Crown and Blue Stars.
Phantom Regiment
“This was such a great show to have after three days straight of rehearsal days,” Phantom Regiment drum major Claire Wilcox said. “It’s exhausting, but really rewarding because we tweaked our show a bunch. The show we put on tonight was a completely different product from what we’ve done even from our last performance.”
Spirit’s Friday output marked its second consecutive head-to-head defeat of Regiment, after earning the first such result in more than 30 years earlier in the week. While The Georgia and Rockford corps ended the night tied in the music caption, Spirit impressed in visual, just two tenths of a point behind Crossmen.
“It’s really positive, honestly, everyone feels very, very encouraged,” Spirit drum major Gretchen Casel said of the corps’ season to date. “We felt encouraged even before we came out and got scores, and since then it’s just been an extra boost to have validation that we’re doing the right things.”
Colts
Colts’ showing in Muncie was also quite impressive; the Dubuque corps posted a strong score of 66.200, just over a point behind Phantom Regiment in sixth place. Colts nearly finished within a point of the Rockford corps thanks to strong numbers in the visual caption and a fourth-place finish in percussion.
Madison Scouts rounded out the event’s strong lineup in seventh, earning a score of 63.700 and scoring as high as sixth in the percussion caption above Crossmen.
All seven corps from Friday’s Muncie event will make their way across Indiana’s western border to compete Saturday night in Rockford, Illinois.