Crossmen named a five-person choreography team. Color Guard was their lowest caption at Prelims, 18th against a 15th-place finish
The new team covers weapons, movement and hip hop. Guard is the one caption where Crossmen sat well below their finish, so this is the announcement that bears most directly on the sheet.
Crossmen announced their 2027 choreography team on October 19, five names covering equipment, weapons, movement and hip hop [1].
It is the most guard-specific of the staff announcements Crossmen have made this fall, and guard is the caption where their 2026 sheet had the most room.
Who was named
Danny Page leads the team as main equipment choreographer. Xavier Yankey joins him as weapon choreographer [1].
Andre Williams is the movement specialist and an equipment choreographer. Taylor Farmer is the hip hop specialist [1].
Connor Smethers returns as the corps' marching arts stylistic specialist. He is the only one of the five the release calls returning; it does not say whether the other four are new to the corps [1].
Where guard stood in 2026
Crossmen finished 15th at Prelims with an 84.363 [7]. Their Color Guard scored 16.3 that night and ranked 18th of 33, three places below the finish [7].
Nothing else on the sheet sat that low. Brass was 17.5 and 14th, Percussion 16.9 and 15th, Visual Proficiency 16.8 and 15th [7].
Semifinals told the same story. Crossmen were 15th again with an 83.425, and Color Guard was 16.2, 17th of 25 [8]. The Academy and the Spartans both outscored them in guard while finishing behind them.
How it fits the rest of the fall
The design team announced three days earlier was mostly about production. Wes Pendergrass moves into program coordinator and visual designer, and the new names are a production manager, an aesthetic production designer and a design consultant [2].
Reid Griffin was named visual caption head in September [5]. No color guard caption head has been announced yet.
What it can and cannot fix
Choreography sets what the guard is asked to do. The score also depends on who is in the guard and how much rehearsal time the book gets, and neither is visible in November.
Closing a three-place gap in one caption is a matter of tenths. That moves the sheet, not necessarily the standings: at Prelims Crossmen were 0.39 ahead of Music City and 2.19 behind Madison Scouts [7].
What to watch
Watch for a guard caption head. Until one is named, the choreographers are the guard plan.
Sources
- Introducing the 2027 Crossmen Choreographers! · 2026-10-19
- Introducing the 2027 Crossmen Design Team · 2026-10-16
- We’re excited to announce the crossmen’s 2027 percussion and audio leadership team · 2026-10-04
- The crossmen are thrilled to welcome back rachel montañez and connor vaughan · 2026-09-22
- We’re excited to welcome reid griffin to the 2027 crossmen staff as our visual caption head · 2026-09-17
- Wesley pendergrass returns to crossmen in expanded leadership role · 2026-09-15
- 2026 DCI World Championship Prelims, official recap · 2026-08-06
- 2026 DCI World Championship Semifinals, official recap · 2026-08-07