Just seven weeks before WGI World Championships return to the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio, 27 percussion ensembles and a trio of winds ensembles will take the all-too-familiar stage for an early-season, two-day regional, Saturday, Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 17.

Watch the 2019 WGI Dayton Regional LIVE on Feb. 16 @ 10:45AM ET

WATCH LIVE | Schedule

Miamisburg High School’s winds program will open the show with a 10:00 AM ET performance, as the lone Scholastic Open Winds group in the field. After a performance by Inertia Independent Winds (WIO), Avon HS (WSW) will round out winds prelims with their return to the indoor competitive arena.

15 Scholastic A Groups En Route

Saturday’s three winds performances will be immediately followed by the percussion groups, set to kick off at 10:45 AM ET with Tippecanoe HS from the Dayton suburbs. Like Tippecanoe, the vast majority of scholastic competitors at this weekend’s competition hail from the Buckeye state.

Scholastic Marching A will take up the bulk of Saturday’s prelims, as 15 of the 27 percussion groups compete in what is consistently the largest class in WGI percussion. Scholastic Marching A groups will compete up until about 1:00 PM ET, before a performance by Clinton-Massie High School (Scholastic Concert A) will bring the event to a 1:17 PM ET lunch intermission.

After the break, two PSO groups, one PIO group, three PSW groups and five PIW groups will round out the day’s competition, with INov8 Winter Percussion being the last to step off at 4:24 PM ET. 

Finals will reconvene Sunday morning, with percussion at 10:00 AM ET and winds at 5:00 PM ET. 

Familiar faces in PIW Pack 

Arguably the biggest headline of the Dayton event, this weekend will provide a very early look at two of Independent World's top competitors and two brand new Independent World competitors.

At 3:51 PM ET, Music City Mystique will make its first appearance of the 2019 season, fresh off of its 24th consecutive top-five finish a year ago. While MCM took fifth last year with a score of 94.825, the Tennessee-based ensemble won a gold medal as recently as 2017 and is an eight-time WGI world champion.

But Rhythm X, which steps off in prelims at 4:13 PM ET, has a similarly impressive résumé. The group, performing this weekend in its hometown, has also finished in the top-five in all but one year since 2008 and has earned three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal in PIW competition. After fourth and sixth place finishes in 2016 and 2017, Rhythm X climbed to second place last season with its crowd-pleasing production, “All the World’s a Stage."

If the past few years have been an indicator, this weekend’s event in Dayton will provide an intriguing early look into which of these two elite ensembles will have an early leg up on the other.

Also competing in this weekend's regional will be ConneXus and INov8. These two groups were in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in Independent Open at last year's WGI World Championship finals. Both were promoted into Independent World and will be making their competitive debut this weekend on FloMarching.

Check out ConneXus kick off the PIW schedule at 3:40 PM ET in prelims and watch INov8 wrap them up at 4:24 PM ET.

Top PSW Programs Converge on Dayton

While only three ensembles will compete this weekend in Scholastic World—Centerville (OH), Lebanon (OH) and Walled Lake Central (IN)—they’re no strangers to the top of the pack, each having reached WGI World Championship finals in the last three years.

Last year, Lebanon was the top finisher out of the three, earning a ninth-place finish in finals with a score of 90.763, about three points ahead of 12th-place Centerville. 

While Walled Lake Central fell out of the finals in each of the past two seasons, the Indiana-based group most recently took 11th place in 2016. 

Former Champions Return to PSA

A familiar name in the Scholastic A and Open levels of WGI in recent years, Victor J. Andrew High School will make its WGI 2019 debut in Dayton. After taking third place in PSO in each of the past two seasons, the Illinois-based ensemble will open the season in PSA, a division in which it owns 2014 and 2016 championship titles.

That said, Victor J. Andrew won’t be the only returning WGI finalist to compete in this weekend’s PSA pack, as Bellbrook will be looking to build upon its ninth-place finish in 2018’s Scholastic A finals. 

If you recall, Bellbrook used "Boomwhackers" in their 2018 show—a pitched plastic tube that resonates a tone when hit against something. Innovation is one thing we'll be expecting from Bellbrook again this season.