The Cadets were crowned as the 2011 Drum Corps International (DCI) World Champions at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis yesterday. For the tenth time in the DCI’s history, the 77-year old corps can again call themselves World Champions.
"It was the best performance I’ve ever seen in finals, by far, in 29 years. If you can get the audience to stand up for two minutes at the end, I don’t know what else you can do"
The two-time defending World Champions Blue Devils fell just shy of taking home the Champions trophy for a third time with a score of 97.80. Though they are one of the winningest corps in DCI history with 14 titles to their credit, 2011 marked the fourth time the corps has fallen short of a three-peat, also occurring in 1978, 1981 and 1998.
The Cavaliers ended the season in third place, earning a score of 96.90. The corps also took home the Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award, a prize they last earned eleven years ago in 2000.
A week-long celebration of the very best in marching music featuring exceptional performances and competitive excitement culiminated in highly thrilling finals.
Here's a recap of all DCI 2011 World Championship finalists:
The Cadets (1st-98.35) took 1st in all the same captions the corps swept in Semifinals: Visual Effect, Music Effect, Visual Performance, and Music Ensemble. But even though the corps increased its score, there were no perfect sub-captions awarded; as opposed to the three the corps got the night before across two captions. Music Effect outscored Blue Devils by 0.60. Visual Ensemble, Color Guard and Brass placed 2nd, Color Guard moving up from 3rd in Semifinals. Percussion remained in 3rd.
Blue Devils (2nd-97.80) took 1st in Visual Ensemble and Color Guard, 2nd in Visual Effect, Visual Performance, Music Ensemble and Percussion and 3rd in Music Effect and Brass. Despite 3rd in Brass, the line was just 0.20 under that of Carolina Crown. The two Effect captions (which are not divided in half before being added to the final score) were in total 0.75 down to the total Effect score of the Cadets, which is important when considering that BD lost to the Cadets by 0.55.
The Cavaliers (3rd-96.85) dropped just 0.05 from Semifinals, won Percussion and took 2nd in Music Effect. Visual Effect and Visual Performance ended in 3rd, while Visual Ensemble, Color Guard, Brass and Music Ensemble all finished in 4th, but never more than 0.40 under the 1st place corps in those captions.
Carolina Crown (4th-95.30) dropped 0.35 from Semifinals and won Brass, but was no higher than 3rd in any other caption and only then was 3rd in just one caption, Music Ensemble. Music Effect took 4th, as did Visual Performance. Visual Effect, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard took 5th and Percussion ended in 6th, down two placements and 0.60 from Semifinals, finishing a full 1.0 under Cavaliers. Of special note is the Music Effect 1 judge, who had the corps in 2nd with a 19.5, while the Music Effect 2 judge had the corps in 5th with an 18.6, a 0.90 difference.
Phantom Regiment (5th-95.05) increased its score the most from Semifinals, by 1.10, closing up the spread between itself and Crown from 1.70 to 0.25. Visual Ensemble and Color Guard placed 3rd, with Visual Effect in 4th. Music Effect, Visual Performance and Music Ensemble placed 5th. Brass placed 6th, 1.20 under Crown and Percussion 7th, 1.10 under Cavaliers.
Santa Clara Vanguard (6th-92.20) scored the same as in Semifinals, was 4th in Percussion and 6th in Visual Effect and all three performance captions; Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard. Music Ensemble finished 7th and Music Effect and Brass finished 8th, with Brass scoring 1.00 under Bluecoats.
Bluecoats (7th-92.05) gained 0.55 from Semifinals, were 5th in Brass and Percussion, 6th in Music Effect and Music Ensemble, 7th in Visual Performance and Color Guard and 8th in Visual Effect and Visual Ensemble.
Boston Crusaders (8th-90.65) gained 0.30 from Semifinals and were 7th in both Effect captions, Visual Ensemble and Brass. Visual Performance, Music Ensemble and Percussion all took 8th and Color Guard finished 9th.
Blue Knights (9th-89.20), down 0.20 from Semifinals, finished 8th in Color Guard, 9th in Visual Effect, Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble, Music Ensemble and Percussion, and 10th in Music Effect and Brass.
Madison Scouts (10th-87.55) dropped 0.80 from Semifinals and was 9th in Music Effect and Brass, 10th in Visual Effect, Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble, 11th in Color Guard and 12th in Percussion.
Blue Stars (11th-86.20) also dropped 0.80 from Semifinals, taking 10th in Color Guard and Percussion. Visual Performance, Brass and Music Ensemble finished 11th, with both Effect captions and Visual Ensemble ending in 12th.
Spirit of Atlanta (12th-85.35) dropped 1.20 from Semifinals, the most of any corps in Finals. Both Effect captions, Visual Ensemble and Percussion finished 11th, and Visual Performance, Color Guard, Brass and Music Ensemble placed 12th.
