One of the most highly-anticipated regionals on the annual WGI calendar should once again provide plenty of competitive intrigue and outstanding performances, as some of the West’s best converge on the San Bernardino area for the two-day, nearly 70-ensemble WGI West Power Regional.

Here’s what to expect from the action at Cal State San Bernardino and Grand Terrace High School, LIVE on FloMarching:

First head-to-head look California’s World Class elites

The Golden State filled up three of the top four spots in both Scholastic and Independent World classifications at last year’s WGI World Championships and will be out for blood again in 2019.

First off, PIW. 

There’s RCC, the defending champions who snuck their way onto the top line at the buzzer last season, ultimately beating second-place Rhythm X by just 0.3. There’s Broken City, which entered Dayton seemingly positioned in first place, but finished in third, just .363 behind RCC. And then there’s Pulse Percussion, who finished exactly one point behind the gold medalists and took fourth.

RCC’s got a title to defend, and it’s got two local competitors who want to flip the script on one of the closest finishes WGI’s ever seen. This year, Broken City has beaten both Pulse and RCC in separate occasions on the Southern California Percussion Alliance (SCPA) circuit, but this will be the first time they will all meet on the WGI stage.

And then, on the scholastic side, things weren’t quite as tight last year between Chino Hills (1st, 98.775), Arcadia (3rd, 96.338) and Ayala (4th, 94.538)—but nothing’s ever set in stone when it comes to this trio of California PSW powerhouses.

Etiwanda will also have something to say for itself; the ensemble didn’t compete at Dayton last year, but took sixth in its 2017 visit.

Granted, there’s a total of seven PIW groups and 10 PSW groups competing this weekend in southern California, and a vast majority of them probably have the chance to contend for finalist positions in Dayton. Safe to say, at the World Class level, this will be the most telling event of the WGI regional season when it comes to what to expect at the end of the line.

Contenders abound in A and Open Classes

Honestly, looking at this field, it’s impossible to really narrow down all of the different points into one or two succinct storylines. Between the 17 groups competing in A Class and the 31 competing in Open, here are some key notes to follow out west this weekend:

• Independent Open
  • Bakersfield College (2:10 PM PT) and Red Wave Indoor (1:30 PM PT) represent the lone finalists from either of the last two years in Independent Open, among a group of eight competitors. 
  • While they’ve yet to see each other head to head on the WGI stage, Bakersfield met up with a handful of this weekend’s opponents at the February Temecula regional, defeating Gold Indoor Percussion and Vision percussion by commanding margins while also holding a slim lead over Elan Percussion.
• Scholastic Open
  • The most heavily-represented class at this weekend’s event should carry plenty of intrigue, with 23 Scholastic Open ensembles vying for the top spot. Arcadia (10:30 AM PT) is the most recognizable name based on recent success, fresh off its 12th-place finish in 2018, but if the Temecula regional is any indicator, it’ll have plenty of competition. 
  • At that event, Arcadia finished a couple of points behind La Quinta and Los Alamitos in third place. Of those two, La Quinta has moved into the World Class ranks, but Los Alamitos and several others will be right in there contending for positions near the top along with Arcadia.
• Independent Open
  • This class only contains five ensembles, but one of them, Vegas Vanguard (1:36 PM ET) is a familiar face in the Independent A finals pool. Of this weekends competitors, Vegas Vanguard has only seen Cornerstone Percussion (1:27 PM PT) this season; it held an advantage of 5.9 points when the two faced off in Temecula.
• Scholastic A
  • While none of the 12 Scholastic A groups will be continuing on to Dayton next month, if PSA competition at the WGI Temecula regional and recent SCPA events is any indicator, this will still be a hotly-contested dozen, and entertaining from the start.