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In their second year back in Division I, the Blue Stars set a goal to become one of the top 12 finalists at this year’s world championships. They will step off Thursday in the championship quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
“There’s going to be a few corps competing for the last top 12 spots and anything can happen,” said Brad Furlano, the Blue Stars’ executive director. “It will come down to one show in the semi-finals.”
The Blue Stars are expected to make Friday’s semifinals, with the top 12 corps advancing to the finals Saturday. The La Crosse corps last appeared in the Division I finals when it placed 10th in 1979. Last year the Blue Stars placed 14th.
Tyler Shipe, the Blue Stars’ drum major, said the corps has made a lot of progress with the 2007 show, and he likes the group’s chances to make the finals during his last year of eligibility.
“We just have to keep on doing what we’re doing, and make sure we’re doing it all the time with 100 percent energy,” Shipe said. “I’d like to age out making the finals. This show needs to get out there on the finals’ DVD.”
Nicole Anthony, a five-year color guard member from Stillwater, Minn., said this year’s show is dynamic and challenging, a major improvement over last year’s show.
“This is a big-time show, and making the finals with this show is very possible,” Anthony said. “If we don’t make the finals, I want us to do everything to the best of our ability. Having a great show is all that matters.”
Her 18-year-old brother, Tyler, has marched with the Blue Stars for six years. A trumpet player, Tyler won’t be back with the corps next season because he is enlisting in the Marines.
“We have a real hard show, and it’s coming together,” Tyler said. “It’s going to take near perfection each day to make the finals.
“We’ve got a show worthy of the finals, but we just have to perform it well,” he said. “I’d sure like to end my drum corps career making the finals.”
Their mother, Robin Anthony, marched with the Blue Stars in 1980 and 1981. “She’s very happy and proud that we have an opportunity to march in Division I like she did,” Nicole Anthony said.
Rosie Nelson, a trumpet player in her second year with the Blue Stars, said she loves this year’s show. Her mother, Pat Nelson, marched with the Blue Stars.
“It’s lot more difficult show than last year, and that kind of challenging show has given us a chance to make the finals,” Nelson said. “It’s a show we like and the crowd likes.”
Nelson said it has taken some time and major changes during the season to bring the show to a higher level.
“To make the finals, we must keep our spirits up and stay together as a group,” she said.
Corps inches closer to championships
The La Crosse Blue Stars wanted to score a few more tenths of a point Saturday at a major competition to put them in a better position for this week’s Drum Corps International World Championships at the Rose Bowl.
The Blue Stars scored
83.425 points for eighth place among 12 corps at the DCI Desert Classic in Tempe, Ariz. They finished 0.025 behind the Academy of Tempe and 0.125 in back of the Spirit of Jacksonville State University (Ala.). The three corps will be battling for the last and 12th finalist spot at the world championships.
As of Sunday, the Blue Stars were 13th in the rankings, but probably will enter the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl ranked 14th.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com, or (608) 791-8227.
