2023 WGI: The Slay All Day Thread

[Rubisco]

A few anticipated changes to the standings, assuming I did this right. I know they come out officially tomorrow, but I always enjoy trying to figure them out in advance.

Onyx up to 2nd in IW (tied w/ Paramount)

ORIGINS up to 5th in IW

Mirage up to 6th in IW

Invictus entering at 11th in IW

TWHS up to 2nd in SW

Moe and Gene Johnson entering at 8th in SW (based on prelims score)

Kiski Area entering at 7th in SW

ORIGINS Open dropping to 6th in IO

Westlake entering at 6th in SO

Pearland would be ranked 1st in SA, if they were going to Dayton.

[LeanderMomma]

15 hours ago, Michelle C. said:

Does anyone have a video or clips of third coast from WGI Austin? I thought I would see something from Leandermom, but she posted what feels like every guard but third coast. I'm just super curious about them

I definitely didn’t get a chance to post everyone unfortunately. I had several other obligations and there were a few times I just had to walk outside and get some air. 

I actually was impressed by Third Coast. I had not heard of them before this weekend but I thought they were a pretty strong group when I saw them in finals on Sunday. I bet we will start hearing more about this promising young guard in the future!

[LeanderMomma]

On 3/5/2023 at 3:14 PM, Rubisco said:

Moe and Gene Johnson is the real deal, folks. That was waaaay better than I was expecting. I love how they start the show as part of the audience and come down from the bleachers. We the People, indeed. Cool idea!

I thought that was really cool as well and I was absolutely blown away by Johnson! This young team is determined to make a real splash in WGI!

[LeanderMomma]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:03 PM, Rubisco said:

Pearland and Westlake both gave pretty stellar performances. I'm guessing they hold on to those top spots. It's also awesome to see James Bowie look like they're returning to form.

I think my exact words after seeing James Bowie perform were “Bowie is back.”  Very interesting and well performed show!

[Rubisco]

Westlake has entered the seeding at 7th in SO, not 6th. But everything else seems to match.

[LeanderMomma]

1	Tarpon Springs HS	Tarpon Springs, FL	85.700	3	91.700
2	The Woodlands HS	The Woodlands, TX	86.000	4	90.500
3	Avon HS	Avon, IN	84.300	3	90.300
4	Carmel HS	Carmel, IN	80.000	1	89.000
5	Miamisburg HS	Miamisburg, OH	81.300	3	87.300
6	Arcadia HS	Arcadia, CA	78.200	3	84.200
7	Kiski Area HS	Vandergrift, PA	79.300	4	83.800
8	Moe and Gene Johnson HS	Buda, TX	78.000	4	82.500
9	Center Grove HS	Greenwood, IN	72.900	1	81.900
10	Northview HS	Brazil, IN	71.200	1	80.200
10	Marvin Ridge HS	Waxhaw, NC	74.200	3	80.200
12	Fishers HS	Fishers, IN	73.400	3	79.400
13	Warren Central HS	Indianapolis, IN	69.600	1	78.600
14	Chino Hills HS	Chino Hills, CA	72.300	3	78.300

[LeanderMomma]

Just now, LeanderMomma said:

1	Tarpon Springs HS	Tarpon Springs, FL	85.700	3	91.700
2	The Woodlands HS	The Woodlands, TX	86.000	4	90.500
3	Avon HS	Avon, IN	84.300	3	90.300
4	Carmel HS	Carmel, IN	80.000	1	89.000
5	Miamisburg HS	Miamisburg, OH	81.300	3	87.300
6	Arcadia HS	Arcadia, CA	78.200	3	84.200
7	Kiski Area HS	Vandergrift, PA	79.300	4	83.800
8	Moe and Gene Johnson HS	Buda, TX	78.000	4	82.500
9	Center Grove HS	Greenwood, IN	72.900	1	81.900
10	Northview HS	Brazil, IN	71.200	1	80.200
10	Marvin Ridge HS	Waxhaw, NC	74.200	3	80.200
12	Fishers HS	Fishers, IN	73.400	3	79.400
13	Warren Central HS	Indianapolis, IN	69.600	1	78.600
14	Chino Hills HS	Chino Hills, CA	72.300	3	78.300

That’s Scholastic World of course 

[packwick]

wait what's this, CyWoods in 2nd at Austin finals w/ an 82+??? who woulda thought??? who, i wonder..... .... oook i'll stop now. hahahahaha.

aggressive Robyn dance by Westlake ftw.

hope y'all got ur drank on last wknd. lotsa 5 turns girls and solo rifle boys. a shot at the end of twhs for spelling out a word.

glad they added a lil personality w/ the carting of the girl at the end. but i wanna know what's bein' delivered. what's in the booooox?! is it Goop's severed head? they should deliver a snowglobe of Earth to the girl doing the arabesque at the end and she can be like, oh is this the next planet we're going to? like 50 bucks on Amazon. im just assuming they're from outer space. woodlands world relocation services. they should be announced that way.

i mmmay go to Klein Collins for tcgc. not sure. kind of a trip. the big AC will probably overtake em in rankings with late season scores but they've got 6 weeks to add and clean so imma be curious.

[packwick]

spinnin my arm around like a windmill and punchin the air, just cuz i feel like it

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CcNo07Xp8aQ

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Did anyone else just love the ear-piercing screams at the end of The Woodlands flag and rifle ensemble elements? I so miss experiencing  this excitement live. Reminded me of being in Dayton in 2015 watching Aimachi in the finals..

[Rubisco]

One of the things I love about this activity is how generally supportive the guards are of each other. That really isn't always the case in sporting events. I think there's a lot of empathy here. Pretty much nobody feels good when they see somebody else drop during a big moment. Conversely, there's a lot of excitement when guards take a big risk and nail it.

[J-Mike16]

Palm Desert Charter Middle School just got promoted to Scholastic Open!!!! They are on fire this year! @LeanderMommaI expect you to say something about this soon. LOL! I saw your like on their Instagram post!

[Hard Core Band Fan]

2 hours ago, J-Mike16 said:

Palm Desert Charter Middle School just got promoted to Scholastic Open!!!! They are on fire this year! @LeanderMommaI expect you to say something about this soon. LOL! I saw your like on their Instagram post!

I just don't see this as a positive thing, mid-season. Scoring well in SA with their current show is one thing as the show was designed for SA. But I don't see this show competing as well in SO. Am I wrong about this?

[J-Mike16]

42 minutes ago, Hard Core Band Fan said:

I just don't see this as a positive thing, mid-season. Scoring well in SA with their current show is one thing as the show was designed for SA. But I don't see this show competing as well in SO. Am I wrong about this?

I honestly did not think about that. It makes sense that the show was designed for SA, not SO. I just hope they continue being successful with this move up.

[Rubisco]

10 hours ago, Hard Core Band Fan said:

I just don't see this as a positive thing, mid-season. Scoring well in SA with their current show is one thing as the show was designed for SA. But I don't see this show competing as well in SO. Am I wrong about this?

Part of me agrees with you. When you promote a group, you're depriving them of high level success in the lower class, which the show is designed for. But simply being in a higher class is a distinction in itself as well, as long as you earned your place there and didn't self-promote or whatever. Also, when the Steering Committee promotes a group, they're comparing that unit to Dayton semi-finals groups in the higher class from previous years, so the promoted group should achieve some level of success in the higher class.

All that being said, it isn't always an immediately smooth transition. Jordan scoring a 69 and not making Open finals at Austin kind of made me raise an eyebrow, like maybe they would be better suited for A. I hope they're able to achieve semis at Dayton. I feel like usually the promoted groups do achieve in the higher class right away, so it's not much of an issue.

There have been a flurry of promotions this season. I understand that from the perspective that the higher classes are really anemic compared to Scholastic A. There are way too many units in the lower classes. Also, the bottom part of the "all-inclusive" Scholastic World class finals last year was kind of rough, I'm not going to lie. It looks like the Steering Committee has recently promoted Cleveland HS (North Carolina) and El Dorado HS (California) into World class, so now there are 21 units there -- more of a typical number. This will allow WGI to be more exclusive and have a 15 unit world class finals, which will probably consist of more polished shows from top to bottom. There will be less of that feeling of, "Oh, are these really the best high school groups?" 😄

[Rubisco]

Oh, also, some of these promoted guards were already in the higher class recently. Flower Mound was in World last year and El Dorado was in World pre-pandemic. Since they're already winning contests in Open, it does seem pretty logical just to send them back up into World.

[stellamo]

1 hour ago, Rubisco said:

All that being said, it isn't always an immediately smooth transition. Jordan scoring a 69 and not making Open finals at Austin kind of made me raise an eyebrow, like maybe they would be better suited for A. I hope they're able to achieve semis at Dayton. I feel like usually the promoted groups do achieve in the higher class right away, so it's not much of an issue.

Promoting Jordan was a mistake. Their show is meant to be successful in A class, and I’m not understanding how their Houston score or run qualified them to be promoted to Open class, but not Clear Brook? Let them have a successful A class season, which is a HUGE feat in itself. They should’ve won the Austin regional in A class, not missed out on Open finals. I understand a promotion is an achievement within itself, but not when it sacrifices the current season’s success. A win shouldn’t mean it’s time to move up. 

[Rubisco]

36 minutes ago, stellamo said:

Promoting Jordan was a mistake. Their show is meant to be successful in A class, and I’m not understanding how their Houston score or run qualified them to be promoted to Open class, but not Clear Brook? Let them have a successful A class season, which is a HUGE feat in itself. They should’ve won the Austin regional in A class, not missed out on Open finals. I understand a promotion is an achievement within itself, but not when it sacrifices the current season’s success. A win shouldn’t mean it’s time to move up. 

Winning by itself isn't enough for a promotion. Sometimes the guards that get promoted aren't the guards that win the contest, although that's obviously most common. The Steering Committee is really focused on skills and whether the unit is performing at an above-class level. Jordan was a pretty comfortable first place in the IA captions at Houston. That, plus the Steering Committee's own opinions of the guard, may have been enough for them to call it. Personally, I would have kept Jordan in A. The show just looks like an A show to me. For example, I don't think they do any sabre work, which is pretty uncommon for Open.

At the end of the day, the Steering Committee is most concerned about keeping the competition within each class fair, and they're much less concerned about sacrificing a group's success in a lower class.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

20 minutes ago, Rubisco said:

Winning by itself isn't enough for a promotion. Sometimes the guards that get promoted aren't the guards that win the contest, although that's obviously most common. The Steering Committee is really focused on skills and whether the unit is performing at an above-class level. Jordan was a pretty comfortable first place in the IA captions at Houston. That, plus the Steering Committee's own opinions of the guard, may have been enough for them to call it. Personally, I would have kept Jordan in A. The show just looks like an A show to me. For example, I don't think they do any sabre work, which is pretty uncommon for Open.

At the end of the day, the Steering Committee is most concerned about keeping the competition within each class fair, and they're much less concerned about sacrificing a group's success in a lower class.

Well, it seems what is most fair is to promote them starting the coming season. Even then, if you have a bunch of really talented seniors in the year you get promoted and have a rebuilding year the next year, it can be a problem. Not all top notch programs have the depth of talent to be consistent year to year.

Oh, and also, it really doesn't matter that you have been in a higher class in previous years. You may not have many or any of those same students or even the same directors, designers, or staff.

[stellamo]

1 minute ago, Hard Core Band Fan said:

Well, it seems what is most fair is to promote them starting the coming season. Even then, if you have a bunch of really talented seniors in the year you get promoted and have a rebuilding year the next year, it can be a problem. Not all top notch programs have the depth of talent to be consistent year to year.

Oh, and also, it really doesn't matter that you have been in a higher class in previous years. You may not have many or any of those same students or even the same directors, designers, or staff.

This is also why we see smaller Open and World classes in general. Colorguard is an inconsistent activity with directors moving around constantly and schools not receiving consistent support. Some storied Open and World programs from the past are sitting in lower classes now. 

[stellamo]

40 minutes ago, Rubisco said:

Winning by itself isn't enough for a promotion. Sometimes the guards that get promoted aren't the guards that win the contest, although that's obviously most common. The Steering Committee is really focused on skills and whether the unit is performing at an above-class level. Jordan was a pretty comfortable first place in the IA captions at Houston. That, plus the Steering Committee's own opinions of the guard, may have been enough for them to call it. Personally, I would have kept Jordan in A. The show just looks like an A show to me. For example, I don't think they do any sabre work, which is pretty uncommon for Open.

At the end of the day, the Steering Committee is most concerned about keeping the competition within each class fair, and they're much less concerned about sacrificing a group's success in a lower class.

I understand how the Steering Committee operates. All top 3 finishers at any regional are required to submit for review. I’m just confused how their score and run qualified a promotion when the guards below them were incredibly close to catching them in score. We usually see promotions when a score heavily surpasses the class. Not to mention they ended that show’s prelims in 4th. I just would love to see them succeed and hope they can work up those Open class skills and design for Dayton. 

[Rubisco]

27 minutes ago, Hard Core Band Fan said:

Well, it seems what is most fair is to promote them starting the coming season.

How is that fair to the groups that have to compete against an obviously misclassed guard in the current season? That's how the committee thinks. It's about the integrity of the competition. And if that group isn't consistent the next year, they can always drop back down into a lower class, if their score permits them to do so.

[packwick]

14 minutes ago, Rubisco said:

How is that fair to the groups that have to compete against an obviously misclassed guard in the current season? That's how the committee thinks. It's about the integrity of the competition. And if that group isn't consistent the next year, they can always drop back down into a lower class, if their score permits them to do so.

this 💯

thooo i think it's confusing when most of the promoted guards don't seem to fall into the "obviously misclassed" category this yr

[packwick]

buuut i generally agree that not allowing guards to be promoted midseason would be problematic. like in Cyndi's 1st yr at twhs in 2015 they were royally dominating in A class and ended up making open finals. it wouldn't have been fair to the other A guards for them to remain in A. the next yr's 2016 promotion was a bit more iffy for me, tho they did beat the NEISD guard that eventually made Dayton finals, at the Southwest regional by like 3 points.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

1 hour ago, Rubisco said:

How is that fair to the groups that have to compete against an obviously misclassed guard in the current season? That's how the committee thinks. It's about the integrity of the competition. And if that group isn't consistent the next year, they can always drop back down into a lower class, if their score permits them to do so.

Or they could institute a handicap system where the lower-scoring groups are given points to get them closer to the higher-scoring groups. The integrity of the competitions exists when there is consistency in how and when groups are promoted. I'm not seeing that. It's almost a penalty to be doing well in a season where you are promoted that season. Just my opinion. Not saying I'm correct. I wonder if Leander would have won SO years ago had they been promoted from SA during that season they did win. I'm glad they had the opportunity to knock it out of the park and set that scoring record.