The 2019 WGI Percussion season is headed to the West Coast for the first time this season, as a loaded list of 32 ensembles is set to take the stage at Temecula High School for the WGI Temecula Percussion Regional this Saturday and Sunday.

The prelims portion of the event features 12 A Class groups, 13 in Open Class, and seven in World Class, with Mountain View HS (CA) opening the day’s competitive action at 11:00 AM PT and Pulse Percussion wrapping things up at 5:30 PM PT.

Watch the 2019 WGI Temecula Regional LIVE on Feb. 23-24 @ 11AM PT/2 PM ET

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Breakthrough takes on the challenge of Pulse duo in PIW debut

After earning a finalist position in Independent Open Class last year—an 83.925 earned the ensemble 15th place at the 2018 WGI World Championships—Breakthrough Indoor Percussion (4:57 PM PT) will have plenty of tough competition at its first WGI event of the season, in a brand new classification.

Both ensembles in the Pulse Percussion family will also be making WGI 2019 debuts in Temecula, both looking to build upon their PIW finalist finishes a year ago. Pulse Percussion (5:19 PM PT) will undoubtedly be the event’s headliner, in terms of independent ensembles, having earned fourth place in 2018 with a score of 96.863, just a point off of world champion RCC.

POW Percussion (5:08 PM PT) has certainly held its own in World Class in recent years, qualifying for finals in each of the last five seasons. Last year, the ensemble took 11th place, just a tenth of a point outside the Top 10.

Chino Hills makes highly-anticipated 2019 debut

Chino Hills’ dominance of the PSW classification in recent years can’t be overstated. The southern California powerhouse has earned Top 3 finishes in World Class in nine of the last 10 seasons, with five world championships in that span.

In search of its first ever “three-peat” in that time, though, Chino Hills (4:24 PM PT)—which took gold in 2018 and set an all-time PSW high score of 98.775—will look to come out firing in Temecula against a respectable group of PSW competitors.

Of the other three ensembles taking the floor in World Class this weekend, the most notable names have to be Homestead HS (4:35 PM PT) and Etiwanda HS (4:46 PM PT), which have a combined three finals appearances in the past three years.

Most recently, both groups appeared in the 2017 finals, with Etiwanda nearly cracking the Top 5 before taking a year off from the trip to Dayton last year. Homestead, however, did compete at last year’s World Championships, finishing just over half a point from the finals cut-off giving them an easy goal for the 2019 season: a Dayton finals appearance.

Returning finalists highlight Scholastic and Independent Open Classes

Between PSO and PIO, three former WGI finalists will take the floor in Temecula.

On the scholastic side of things, Arcadia HS(3:05 PM PT)—which has one ensemble at each of the World, Open and A levels—will bring it’s Open Class group to this weekend’s event, after finishing 12th in PSO finals last season with a score of 86.713.

Foothill HS (2:45 PM PT), which appeared in the 2017 ‘A’ class finals with a ninth-place finish, will compete at the PSO level this weekend alongside Arcadia and seven other ensembles.

As far as Independent Open is concerned, Bakersfield College headlines a list of four competing groups; the ensemble has been a PIO finalist in each of the past two seasons, most notably earning sixth place in 2018.

Vegas Vanguard (12:15 PM PT) is also looking to build upon an eighth-place finish in last year’s Independent ‘A’ competition, after scoring just about 1.5 points outside the medalist positions in a very competitive classification.