packwick

tx units kinda crushed it in SW prelims in Dayton. all of em looking like they'll make finals. bridgeland 2nd overall, Burleson centennial in 4th. doesn't look like anyone's catching ayala however. always interesting to see how tx does here. participation in wgi percussion in tx is kinda on the anemic side outside of maybe Houston, but the ones that field teams still do very well. looks like Churchill's still the only one that has won SW, over 20 years ago. maybe another gold soon??

finally got around to watching some of those IW finalists from last nite. i woulda given the gold to Paramount. wouldn't have thought that coming into the contest, but they had the cleanest run + just a lil more creative than the other two that got slotted for the top 3. not in love w/ any of the designs but the performers continue to blow me away.

now i wanna see Origins return next yr and win Independent World gold. that's the last prize Texas has technically never won, unless u include the tie for Independent Open gold from Odyssey back in the 80s. based on the recent IW chaos, i think the top of that class is more open than it has been!! fitting for tw to be the first Texas group to get the world class gold, bc they were also the first tx group to win any scholastic gold back in 2004. took em over 20 years of bouncing around the classes to finally snag that gold medal in the highest class. better late than never!!!

ohhhh wow!!! i wasn't convinced woodlands was gonna hit a 98 w/ that run!!! considering i went into the contest thinking 96-something, then kinda grew into thinking, wellll maybe 97 something, the 98 is surprising and awesome!!! three judges thought they set a new standard in their overall scores. 1 equipment judge w/ a 100-98 for 99 overall, and then two effect judges w/ 100s across the board, even in performance despite those two really exposed drops in the same line. those guys must have just thought it was so hard that it was negligible. well, that and maybe bc Avon had a couple drops last yr and still got 100s in performance. anywho, SOOOO happy for them, esp to watch that big group of girls who have been on the team since they were freshmen grow into the AMAZING seniors they are today, and then cap their HS careers off w/ a gold medal and 98, which by the way, has been a rare score post-James Logan era. only Avon has achieved scores that high recently, last yr + 2019. and ofc hats off to Cyndi and the team, an unusually small team, btw, esp considering how massive the program is. these days design responsibilities are usually shared by bigger teams at the world class level, but here Cyndi is doing all or most of it herself, across 4 competitive guards, last yr it was 5, + teaching all those kids at both the high school and junior high. just an immense accomplishment. i mean, WOW!! nowww, do i think woodlands might win gold more often if they shared design/teaching responsibilities more??? yeaaah, probably. but this is proof that it CAN be done in this era. aaaand im so happy we've gotten to see Cyndi's personal vision come to life thru the remarkable, and imo standard setting, performers.

woodlands had their cleanest run in prelims, but the energy of the performers w/ the crowd was undeniable. finals nerves always seem to cause drops ive never seen before!! but overall they managed the pressure very very well. what they're doing is so difficult it's easy to forget bc of how cleanly they execute.

thinkin Pearland coulda used some sabres to increase the individual content scores a bit, we'll see what the recaps show. would be a lil weird to see a guard promoted to world w/o sabres in their show methinks, even tho it's technically not necessary. even the top A classers did some tricky sabre work. still, 4th after self promoting??? that's really incredible. Emerson in a similar boat w/ their promotion and 5th finish. then Westlake in 6th. all the tx ones in finals need to return next yr!!!

oh wow!!! amazing!!! 4 point increase over semis is huge!! they topped the record held by woodlands + pomona!! was wondering when that was gonna happen. took over 20 years!!! all the guards in finals did so awesome. thank goodness for the rewind feature!!!

yessss, go Melissa!!! movin up a spot!! imma stay up way too late tonite to wake up early enough to watch the opens in finals. wishing em all great luck in advance. thinkin' Pearland could still snag a medal w/ a cleaner run than the one in semis. methinks i should prob congratulate lil elm now but don't wanna jinx it lol. maybe there was too much of a post-dinner score bump in round 3, who knows.

well i thought Melissa had by far the most goosebumpy show of the top As, we'll see if the performance was good enough to hang onto that medal. it helps that it was the show that had the most on its mind, depicting the frustrations of an artist who shot himself in the chest before he hit peak fame. "Someday you'll understand the meaning of my life." so achingly beautiful. the choreo was soooo expressive.

congrats to A classers. quick calculations, looks like tx units take up half of the top ten spots after semis. Melissa 3rd, + Jordan, Katy, dripping, and Tomball memorial 6th thru 9th in a row. think Wylie also made it in.

noooooo, FIU missed out on finals!! i really wanted a multicam w/ Hannibal Lecter. Fantasia on top. if i were forced to pick likeliest gold medalist heading into Dayton it would have been them. not in love w/ the design, kinda recycled, but it checks a lot of the other boxes. + they have like a bajillion performers cleanly tossing 7s and higher on weapon.

glad to see little elm on top after prelims, which is where they belong. magnificent show. beautifully crafted and performed. i also had Pearland in 2nd. clean and lovely as always. Noblesville was also very strong. i just can't get behind their design. not bc it's "too mature" or whatever, in fact i find the risk-taking refreshing, even if it's not a POC on the open sheets. i just find the soundtrack a lil corny. the lugubrious, whisper-cooed cover of Chandelier + the confessionals. yeeeeeah, not feeling it. buuut the performers are great. think they'll fit into world class just fine next yr.

been really busy, in and out. will try to go back and watch little elm and cy fair. congrats to woodlands on 2-pointing the field in prelims, despite both Carmel and arcadia having awesome runs. saw it coming. best run ive see from tw. fabulous on the timing, the pitch of the equipment, the hands. didn't see any drops, just a couple half catches, which is insane given their ludicrously hard book. they make everything look so easy, such calmness and control throughout. congrats to the open classers and A classers so far, too. they're all crushing it rn.

the colony up from 15th and a 77.4 at Dallas to 1st in their round today w/ almost a 90. WOW!!! Emerson was good, but they def have a better run in em. the fact that they still nearly full pointed their round is a good sign.

it might!! this was a fairly strong panel, 50% active wgi judges + 50% "retired" ones. dripping springs is peaking at exactly the right time, sort of like grand oaks did last yr. the 90+ crowd in the A class is quite small this year. very exclusive club. meanwhile woodlands A totally flatlined here. that's a surprising result for me, makes me wish i attended to see for myself!! others must have improved a lot!! i thought this was the best woodlands A show of the past 4 years, but they scored way worse than usual. at least they won WGI Austin i guess. they seem to always do better in wgi anyway. maybe take em to Dallas next yr instead? Westlake scoring like they could challenge for an open medal, we'll see if that holds. overtaking Pearland in the overstuffed 3rd round of Dayton prelims will be their first task. where was Pearland, speaking of? 'nother Friendswood situation?? or just a scheduling conflict?? also, cy-fair over bowie here, but it was close. cyfair wins in the three analysis captions, but Bowie takes effect. i hope they both make it into Dayton finals but could be tricky if Oviedo and dobyns have improved a lot. woodlands world up another couple points this week. 94.4. last week at wgi their downstairs scores looked like an impenetrable firewall. this week the upstairs ones look like it, too. DA scores better than expected, including 95s across the board from Pizani. i was projecting a 96-something win for em at Dayton, but that was w/ 98+ downstairs combined w/ 95ish upstairs. if these upstairs scores improve, they may do even better than i think, buuut i have trust issues w/ local circuit scores. might flatline a bit in Dayton. overall, tx high school units heading to Worlds looking very very very strong this yr. independents a lil on the weaker side unfortunately.