Jeff Griffith is a writer and columnist for FloMarching, and any perspective presented in this article represents his own only. 

Over seventy-five groups are descending on two Indianapolis venues across two days for this weekend's WGI Indianapolis Color Guard Regional.

And make no mistake - the lineup is loaded. 

With nationally-recognized competitors across all divisions, the upcoming weekend of action is among the biggest and most lightly-anticipated WGI color guard events, prior to the World Championships in April, of the 2022 season.

Here's what to watch for:

Scholastic World

It's always the case, but the Scholastic World classification at the Indy regional is deep. Like, insanely deep.

If we're talking in terms of 2019 results, the weekend event features the groups that finished first, second, third, fifth, seventh, 10th, and 13th in Scholastic World finals at WGI World Championships.

That's three medalists, four of the top five, and seven finalists.

The only Scholastic World group set to perform in Indianapolis this weekend that wasn't part of 2019's finals is Fishers, and that's because they weren't competing in Scholastic World; they were busy winning the Scholastic Open division, and are now positioned among the Scholastic World Top 10, as per the standings listed on WGI's official website.

And speaking of that list, if the 2019 stats regarding this pool of competitors aren't crazy enough, they get even crazier when you look at the current WGI standings. On that official list, those groups account for eight of the top eleven.

Eight of the top eleven.

There's not much more you can say about it - it's Avon, Carmel, Center Grove, Miamisburg, Norwin, Warren Central, Northview, and Fishers, all in one place. The Scholastic World lineup this weekend in Indianapolis is worth the watch alone.

Seven of these groups - Center Grove not included - have already met under the WGI heading, at the Indianapolis event February 12-13, with Avon topping the ranks.

Scholastic Open

Seeing as the 2019 Scholastic Open class World champion is in appearance as a World Class competitor, it only makes sense that the weekend’s Scholastic Open groups would be pretty deep as well

In terms of jaw-dropping stats, it's not quite the lineup we're getting at the Scholastic World level, but it is pretty loaded.

For starters, according to WGI standings, the top Scholastic Open group in the country is in attendance, and that’s Kiski Area, which put out a strong score of 84.000 all the way back on February 26. 

From there, Kiski Area will be joined by a pair of current top-10 groups, including Ben Davis (10th) and Bellbrook (4th).

Independent World

It’s always an exciting showdown when Onyx and Pride of Cincinnati get together, and this weekend will mark the second time that’s happened at a WGI event this season. 

While Onyx did end up in 10th in 2019, the two both currently rank among the top three Independent World groups in WGI’s 2022 standings, with Onyx in third and Pride and second, both behind first-place Diamante. 

Pride of Cincinnati, of course, has held the title of Independent World class champion for nearly three years and is looking to defend its 2019 gold medal this season. 

The last time these two groups met under the WGI heading, it was Pride holding a lead of 1.5 points way back on February 13, with a sweep in all captions.