The second weekend of show choir down South proved to be an extremely eventful weekend of competition, upsets, and more. With four competitions spread throughout the region, an upset or two was guaranteed to happen somewhere, and was that ever delivered! What does it mean? Find out below.
SOUTH JONES INVITATIONAL
(South Jones Show Choir)
Let’s face it: the first thing everyone wants to hear about from this weekend is what went down at the South Jones Invitational down in Ellisville. Fair play. Putting it lightly, West Jones pulled off what could most likely end up being the upset of the year, winning a Grand Championship over Brandon while being one choreography caption away from a sweep. There are two other big takeaways from this competition: 1) Northeast Jones beat the same single-gender group from Brandon that beat a group in finals at Millard West’s competition 2) Not only did West Marion topple Oxford in the 1A division (the only competitive division for this event), but Wayne County did as well, placing Oxford in dead-last at this competition. This ends Oxford’s division win streak at 11, tying that of Pisgah’s from 2017-2019 for the most ever in the division. Needless to say, what originally looked to be a fairly entertaining competition initially proved to be the fireworks of the weekend for the show choir world. Final results are posted below (no finals):
GC) West Jones “Imagination” (BV/Show Design)
1RU) Brandon “Brio” (BC)
2RU) Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
3RU) Brandon “Bellas”
1st in 1A) West Marion “New Era”
JACKSON ACADEMY SHOW CHOIR INVITATIONAL
(@grenada_visions)
Grenada and Tupelo were set to be not only the main card for this event, but for the entire weekend. The expectations didn’t disappoint either, as Visions and Synergy both fought tooth and nail for the top two spots. However, at the end of the day, a winner has to be crowned. The winner here was Grenada, staying red-hot from last season with a new “Truman Show” performance. Tupelo put up an amazing fight, snagging the Best Vocals caption in finals. The other late-night spots were rounded out by Northwest Rankin, Madison Central, and Jackson Prep respectively. As for the other divisions? 2A was non-competitive for Clinton Christian Academy and 1A was won by Pisgah Innergy over Morton One A’Chord and Columbia Academy Premiers. Full results are as below (five finalists):
GC) Grenada “Visions” (BC/Show Design)
1RU) Tupelo “Synergy” (BV)
2RU) Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”
3RU) Madison Central “Reveille”
4RU) Jackson Prep “Reveillion”
1st in 4A) Grenada “Visions”
1st in 3A) Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”
1st in 1A) Pisgah “Innergy”
1st in Single-Gender) Tupelo “Synergy”
ALBERTVILLE DIAMOND CLASSIC
(Dobbs Durkin)
A competition FULL of groups served its purpose well. With 20 groups spread across four divisions, nothing was guaranteed. Every group fought with grit to earn their spots, and it all led to a Homewood sweep at the top. As a program, Homewood actually left quite a mark here at this competition, also winning both the Middle Division and Single-Gender Division. With three of the four categories taken by Homewood, Rome came over from Georgia to clean things up and walk away with a Small Division victory over the likes of Chelsea. It’s worth noting that Hoover, who was just six or so points away from beating Auburn last weekend at Tallassee, earned just third overall in the Middle Division here (under both Homewood and Tift County). Alabama Middle Mixed might look to be the most competitive overall division in the South this year. Even though they got third in their division behind their other single-gender group and Homewood, Tift County Tiftosterone still managed to grab the Best Vocals caption for their category. Crazy competition going on in the state of Alabama. Full results are as below (no finals):
GC) Homewood “The Network” (Sweep)
1st in Large) Homewood “The Network”
1st in Middle) Homewood “Continuum”
1st in Small) Rome “Grand Finale”
1st in Single-Gender) Homewood “Nexus”
MISSISSIPPI SHOW CHOIR CLASSIC
(Alison Purvis Holder)
Undoubtedly the least shocking event of the weekend, everything here went just about as planned. The obvious favorite, Petal, swept the competition. Former 4A group Biloxi won in the 3A division over Oak Grove, with both groups rounding out the overall podium. Sumrall beat Pearl River Central in the 2A division, coming out on top of a toss-up matchup. West Marion completed their double weekend and won their second competition of the day here over Pass Christian in the 1A division. As of right now, pending any new developments or discoveries, this marks the first time in both Mississippi and Southern Show Choir history that a group has competed twice in a single day and won both divisions they competed in. Unreal work by the folks down at West Marion. To wrap up the evening, Petal won another division in the Single-Gender category, knocking off both debuting treble groups from Purvis and Biloxi. Full results are as below (no finals):
GC) Petal “Soundsations” (Sweep)
1st in 4A) Petal “Soundsations”
1st in 3A) Biloxi “Sound Surge”
1st in 2A) Sumrall “Legacy”
1st in 1A) West Marion “New Era”
1st in Single-Gender) Petal “Innovations”
LOOKING FORWARD
Do you know what’s the best thing about a crazy weekend of show choir? There’s always another one right around the corner! Here’s a brief look below at some of the upcoming competitions (and featured groups) this weekend. Thanks for reading, and be sure to come back soon later this week for a preview of each event listed below, as well as the first Southern rankings of the season!
Oak Mountain King Of The Mountain Invitational (Birmingham, AL)
-Grenada “Visions”
-Homewood “The Network”
-Auburn “Varsity Singers”
Northeast Jones Classic (Laurel, MS)
-Brandon “Brio”
-West Jones “Imagination”
-Madison Central “Reveille”
-South Jones “Company”
Opelika Southern Showcase (Opelika, AL)
-Hoover “Paradigm”
-Albertville “CenterStage!”
-West Marion “New Era”
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