Crossmen climbed back to 15th. Percussion read 18th of 20 and the 2027 percussion team is mostly returning
After sliding from 13th in 2023 to 19th at 2025 Semifinals, Crossmen were back to 15th in 2026. For 2027 the corps added a corps director title and gave it to John Meehan, who joined in 2026 as music arranger, composer and coordinator and keeps those roles; Crossmen's board president says he made an impact in his first season. They also added a new visual caption head. Percussion returns almost intact under a new advisor, and audio gets a new caption head of its own. Their 2026 sheet shows percussion, 18th among the 20 World Class corps, as the caption that fell furthest below the corps' overall placement. The piece tests whether the 2027 staff moves aim at that gap.
This is a reading of the sheets rather than a report of an event. The rows it argues from are printed underneath it so the argument can be checked rather than taken.
The climb and the caption that lagged it
Crossmen placed 13th at World Championship Semifinals in 2023, 15th in 2024 and 19th in 2025. In 2026 they were back to 15th, scoring 83.425.
At that same 2026 Semifinals show, percussion read 18th among the 20 World Class corps, against an overall placement of 15th. No other caption on the sheet fell as far below the corps' own placement.
How the numbers are weighted
General Effect counts twice. The two effect captions carry 40 of the 100 points and the six performance captions carry 60, so a tenth moved in effect is worth two tenths moved in percussion. Every weighted figure in this piece is scaled that way; the unweighted caption marks are printed as the recap prints them.
The 2027 bet
Crossmen enter 2027 with a corps director title that did not exist in 2026. The corps gave it to John Meehan, who joined the organization last season as music arranger, composer and coordinator and keeps all three roles along with the new title. Crossmen's board president said Meehan made an impact in his first season and showed commitment to developing the corps' performers.
Percussion returns almost completely. Mike Huestis is back as percussion arranger and composer, Mark Thurston serves as percussion consultant, and Noah Avelar and Ben Koch continue as co-caption coordinators in redefined roles. The new face in the section is Kennan Wylie, who joins as percussion advisor.
Audio gets a new caption head of its own. Wade Quinn joins in that role for 2027.
What this does not establish
These announcements say who holds each job. They do not say what the group sounds like in 2027.
Nobody with the corps was interviewed for this piece, and no query against a score archive can tell you whether a new percussion advisor changes a section that read 18th. That question needs someone who was in the room, not a database.