SAN ANTONIO — It was just four years ago when Southern California corps Pacific Crest made major competitive headlines, leaping from 2018’s 20th-place finish to a 14th-place ranking at the 2019 DCI World Championships. The corps rode upward momentum into August, and stood just two spots on the leaderboard away from a first-ever “finalist” finish.
2023’s corps — the organization’s 30th-anniversary iteration — has found a special connection to the 2019 ensemble, in more ways than one.
“We always bring up the 2019 season, and we're super excited to be riding that same wave (of competitive success),” Pacific Crest snare drummer Maddox Lister said. “A lot of us like to make that connection, just between the two corps. Obviously it’s a totally different group of people, but it's super, super fun to feel that power and feel the energy.”
VIDEO: Pacific Crest glows in breakout 2019 season
At the 2023 DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc. on Saturday, the next chapter of an intriguing competitive story unfolded, featuring Pacific Crest as one of its key characters.
Among the 22 performing groups at the Alamodome were the City of Industry, California corps and the Blue Knights, two corps whose season-long and Saturday head-to-head results allude to an unfolding race for a top-12 spot at the DCI World Championships come August.
View scores from the DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc.
The Denver corps finished more than five points ahead of Pacific Crest at the end of the 2022 season. In 2023, Blue Knights picked up right where the corps last left off, opening the season with a 3.9-point lead in its first meeting with Pacific Crest on July 7 in Fresno, California.
It didn’t take long — just two weeks — for the Southern California corps to make a noticeable surge and earn an advantage of 1.55 points, July 12 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Pacific Crest outscored Blue Knights at the two corps’ next head-to-head meeting, July 15 in Fort Collins, Colorado, before the Denver corps once again placed ahead of Pacific Crest. Just 0.05 points separated Pacific Crest and Blue Knights on July 17 in Canyon, Texas.
With competitive storylines rapidly developing, however, the focus for both corps at Saturday’s event was simply on putting on the best performance for the fans in attendance at the Alamodome.
“Everyone was very excited about the dome show,” Blue Knights drum major Laynie Metsker said. “It ended up being our best run yet.”
“The scores are never our focus,” Pacific Crest's Lister added. “We’re just always excited to have a good time and the scores just always add to that.”
When results were announced at the end of the Southwestern Championship, though, it was Pacific Crest finishing slightly ahead of Blue Knights for the final spot among the San Antonio event’s Top 12.
With a score of 80.475, the California-based corps surpassed its final score from the 2022 season, and landed, for the time being, in the ever-coveted 12th-place position. The overall general effect, overall visual and music analysis captions helped Pacific Crest maintain an advantage over the Denver corps.
2023 Blue Knights | "Away" | Salt Lake City, UT (Encore)Stunning as always, Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps!! 💜 Watch the full rebroadcast of Corps Encore tonight at 7 PM ET on FloMarching » dci.fan/WatchLive Blue Knights' 2023 Tour Schedule » dci.fan/BK23
Posted by Drum Corps International on Thursday, July 13, 2023
Blue Knights, though, were within immediate striking distance of the top-12 cut-off line, earning a 13th-place score of 80.138. Blue Knights finished an impressive 10th overall in percussion, placed ahead of Pacific Crest in overall music, and also kept a razor-thin margin with the corps in general effect, just 0.075.
While Saturday’s event was an important turning point in the 2023 DCI Tour’s competitive landscape, it’s just the beginning of the summer’s home stretch. Pacific Crest and Blue Knights will meet four more times prior to the DCI World Championships, including July 24 in Mesquite, Texas.
Watch DCI Mesquite LIVE on FloMarching
While there was a gap of just over two points between Blue Knights and the corps’ next-closest competitors, a handful of additional corps — all of which have earned a Top 12 bid in recent seasons — stood about three points away from 12th place, those being Crossmen, The Academy and Madison Scouts.
And for any corps potentially looking at a close race for a key position, the goal is to stay focused on what’s ahead.
“We want to keep our heads down and stay hungry,” Lister said. That’s what they say to us before every show. We're having a good time, we're doing well, but we can always be better and we have to stay hungry.”
View the 2023 DCI Tour Schedule