Say hello to the South! They are featured for the first time this season on Comps of the Week with Tallassee, along with Indiana’s first major contest with the inclusion of Franklin Community. Deep lineups at Findlay and Omaha Westside round out this week!
Findlay FEst
Findlay’s First Edition is one of the most consistently successful (over a decades-long span) in Ohio, and their competition is no different. This year’s contest features 16 different groups going at it, with a loaded large mixed division to boot!
The Lineup (from Ohio unless otherwise noted)
Large Mixed: Grove City “Touch of Class”, Huntington North “Varsity Singers” (IN), Lebanon “Singers”, Piqua “The Company”, Ross “Legacy”, Solon “Music in Motion”, Twinsburg “Great Expectations”
Small Mixed: Ada “Varsity Singers”, Bishop Luers “Minstrels” (IN), Crestview “Knight Vision”, Garfield Heights “Music Express”, Milton-Union “Center Stage”, North Royalton “Royal Harmony”, Ross Middle “Next Generation”
Womens: Grove City “Class Act”, Huntington North “Viking Volume” (IN)
Ross and Piqua both are coming off commanding wins, Ross at Nitro, West Virginia and Piqua at Beavercreek two weeks ago. Solon, while making its 2023 debut at Findlay, never finished lower than fourth place during 2022 and could make some noise near the top as well. Grove City comes in as the returning second-place finisher at Findlay, placing two spots ahead of Solon last year. Twinsburg and Huntington North are both making their season debuts, and North recorded a strong string of placements in 2022. Rounding out the large mixed division, Lebanon looks to make finals here after missing at Beavercreek. The small mixed division is anybody’s guess. Garfield Heights looks to be a late bump from the large mixed division and has been known at times to go deep into finals.
Franklin Community ShowFest
Up to this point in the season, Indiana’s competition scene has been populated by smaller invitationals that only draw a couple of large choirs. The season in the Hoosier State kicks off in earnest this weekend, with 24 high school groups performing on Saturday. This competition does not have finals.
The Lineup (from Indiana unless otherwise noted)
Large Mixed: Ben Davis “Premiers”, Fairfield “Choraliers” (OH), Indian Creek “Rhythmaires”, Marquette “Center Stage” (MO), Medina “Encore Entertainment Company” (OH), Mt. Zion “Swingsations” (IL)
Small Mixed: Anderson “Vocal Infusion”, Crawfordsville “Dynamic Expression”, Decatur Central “Goldenaires”, Donelson Christian “Legacy” (TN), Edgewood “Music Warehouse”, Lebanon “Charisma”, Pendleton Heights “Pendletones”, Whiteland “Rhythm Masters”
Large Single-Gender: Ben Davis “Sounds”, Fairfield “Pure Elegance” (OH), Mt. Zion “Les Femmes” and “You’ve Got Male” (IL)
Small Single-Gender: Anderson “Vocal Elegance”, Decatur Central “Expressions”, Edgewood “Sophisticated Ladies”, Pendleton Heights “Emerald Suites”, Southmont “Sudden Impulse”, Whiteland “Expressions”
Middle School: Edgewood “Mini Warehouse”, Fairfield “Rhythm Express” (OH), Mt. Zion “Sound System” (IL), Noblesville West “West Side Sound”
This is one of the rare competitions run by a local high school and not a company that attracts choirs from five different states. Along with a strong local Indiana contingent, FComm performers this year will include choirs from Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. The even crazier part is that the top Indiana group may wind up third or fourth in large mixed here. Mt. Zion will make its debut under the direction of Erik Taylor. Medina is also making its debut and will look to extend a streak of podium placements that currently sits at three. While Fairfield had a down year last year for Choralier standards, the group always has the potential to mix it up with the best. Ben Davis remains a potent large mixed group in the Indianapolis metro, and Marquette comes in as a complete wildcard from Missouri. Small mixed sees Whiteland drop down from large mixed to compete with small mixed stalwarts Pendleton and Edgewood in what should be a barn burner of a division as well.
Omaha Westside Competition of Excellence
Westside is undeniably the most successful show choir in Nebraska history, and their competition is one of the oldest. It draws a number of high-caliber local programs this year!
The Lineup (from Nebraska unless otherwise noted)
Mixed: Elkhorn South “Blackout”, Grand Island “Ultimate Image”, Millard West “West in the Groove”, Mitchell “Friend de Coup” (SD), Omaha South “The Ambassadors”, Papillion-La Vista South “Titanium”, Ralston “RUSH”
Womens: Elkhorn South “Shockwave”, Grand Island “Sweet Revelation”, Marian “Momentum”, Mercy “Treblemakers”, Millard West “Uptown”, Omaha South “Amplify”, Papillion-La Vista South “Titan Radiance”, Ralston “Runway”
Prep: Elkhorn South “Power Surge”, Grand Island “Future Image”, Millard West “Swing Cats”, Papillion-La Vista South “Titan Express”
COE brings out some of Nebraska’s largest show choir programs, with four schools bringing three choirs to the event. While only having seven varsity choirs, the lineup is absolutely stacked. Papio South is arguably on the level of Westside for top choir in Nebraska, and Millard West isn’t far behind. Mitchell comes in as the undisputed best choir in South Dakota, and should match up well with the top two. Elkhorn South, Grand Island and Omaha South already have very solid records to their names as well. While Ralston has a finals berth as well earlier this season, they were the 7th group in finals and finished behind two single-gender groups. Speaking of single-gender groups, Millard West’s Uptown (renamed from Uptown Girls) routinely makes finals at competitions of lower calibers and could challenge for a low finals spot here as well. And as a fun twist, COE features a battle of the two Omaha all-female high schools who have show choirs, Marian and Mercy.
Tallassee Capital City Classic
Alabama goes full steam ahead into competition season with a monster Tallassee lineup that features 38 total groups over two days. That includes 26 high school groups in a Saturday competition that does not include a finals round.
The Lineup (from Alabama unless otherwise noted)
Large Mixed: Auburn “Varsity Singers”, Homewood “The Network”, Opelika “Ovations”, Tift County “8th Street Singing Company” (GA)
Medium Mixed (Large Schools): Hoover “Paradigm”, Lakeside “Soundsation” (GA), Prattville “Spotlight”, Spain Park “Rhapsody in Blue”, Vestavia Hills “Singers”
Medium Mixed (Small Schools): Albertville “CenterStage!”, Appling County “Applause” (GA), Helena “Spotlight”, Homewood “Continuum”
Small Mixed (Large Schools): Chelsea “Out of the Blue”, Eufala “Vibe”, Oxford “Sound”, Pell City “Showstoppers”
Small Mixed (Small Schools): Pike Road “Show Choir”
Middle School Large Mixed: Albertville “VocalPoint”, Auburn “Adrenaline”, Berry “Bravura”, Enterprise “Expressions”, Homewood “Patriot Singers”, Oak Mountain “Elevation”
Middle School Small Mixed: Bumpus “Cadence”, Eighth Street “One Voice”, Opelika “Imaginations”, Simmons “Synergy”
Middle School Girls: Auburn “Audacity”, Saraland “Treble Threat”
Homewood, Auburn and Tift County figure for one heck of a matchup in the large mixed category. This was an even better matchup before Enterprise was a late week-of drop from the competition. The large school middle mixed division (what a mouthful) will feature the classic Birmingham battle between Spain Park and Vestavia Hills, who are both sneak contenders at competitions who have finals. Homewood’s prep group will do battle with Albertville under the new direction of former Oak Mountain, South Jones and Sullivan director Chris Wilson. Oxford would seem to be, on paper, the class of the large school small mixed division. A shoutout goes to Pike Road, who makes their competitive debut, although in a division all on their own.
With a couple of deep fields numbers-wise and a couple deep fields quality-wise, be sure to check back late next weekend for a look at how these groups fared!
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