SAN ANTONIO — With the conclusion of the 2024 summer season inching ever-closer on the calendar, several corps are aiming to earn spots in the summer tour’s ultimate finale, the DCI World Championship Finals.
The 12th and final spot in Saturday night’s lineup card is up for grabs.
Embedded in a closely-contested race, Madison Scouts emerged on the inside track for the coveted 12th position after Saturday’s DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc., the first and only meeting of all 22 World Class corps prior to DCI World Championship events.
“We feel amazing,” Madison Scouts drum major Lex Rodrigeuz-Monteiro said. “We’re humbled. It’s a big improvement from where we were last year. It’s nice to see our hard work pay off, especially after this past week.”
It’s been seven years since the Madison Scouts performed on the final night of the DCI Tour. Prior to the corps’ most recent Top 12 finish in 2017, the Scouts had missed out on a finalist position only four times. Since then, the corps has landed between 15th and 17th place each season.
This summer has been a noticeable contrast to recent seasons, and has the corps squarely at the epicenter of the race for 12th place. Saturday’s 12th-place finish — which saw the Madison Scouts fend off the Crossmen by just 0.125 points, was driven largely by strong visual scores.
“We’ve been working hard this past week to make some changes in the show really stick, and Saturday’s performance was the culmination of all our hard work,” Rodriguez-Monteiro said.
The race, though, is certainly far from over. Finishing in 13th place Saturday night, Crossmen placed itself in the thick of the Top 12 conversation, nearly outscoring Madison Scouts overall while ranking ahead of Madison in the general effect caption.
Blue Knights — who are familiar with the heated race for 12th, having emerged from a similar race in 2023 — weren’t far off either; the Denver, Colorado corps ranked 12th in overall music to help keep things close in San Antonio.
“There’s a lot of competition for 12th right now with a lot of great people,” Blue Knights drum major Laynie Metsker said. “We’re just here trying to do the best we can do.”
Not far behind the aforementioned trio on the leaderboard, Saturday night’s event was nearly the site of a deadlock between Pacific Crest and Spirit of Atlanta. The two corps were separated by just 0.025 points, while finishing within three points of the 12th position.
Looking ahead, three of the five corps within striking distance of the 12th spot — Madison Scouts, Pacific Crest and Crossmen — will head to Mesquite, Texas on July 22. Blue Knights will wrap up the corps’ Texas slate July 23 in McKinney, Texas, while Spirit of Atlanta sets its sights on Hattiesburg, Mississippi for July 26’s DCI Southern Mississippi event.