As several regions of the country opened up to show choir, two prominent Nebraska choirs cleaned house while a pair of Iowa giants let their vocals carry them to victory.
Des Moines Christian Illumination
Final Results
GC: Waukee “Millennium” (BV/BB)
1RU: Cedar Rapids Washington “Momentum”
2RU: Indianola “Side One” (BC)
3RU: Dallas Center-Grimes “Momentum”
4RU: Norwalk “Sound Adrenaline”
5RU: Xavier “Xhilaration”
Waukee defended its win from 2024 with another victory in 2025, taking vocals and band en route to the top spot. Cedar Rapids Washington also performed admirably in its debut competition, tuning up before a slugfest at Linn-Mar this upcoming weekend. Indianola was perhaps the biggest newsmaker from this competition; Side One took its first Best Choreography award outside of a pair of wins last year. They lead a trio of choirs that will go from Des Moines Christian to Waukee and fight for a finals spot, with DCG and Norwalk following suit. Speaking of Dallas Center-Grimes, they notched a quality placement over Norwalk and Xavier and are well on their way to becoming a 4A group that people need to reckon with.
Muscatine River City Showcase
Final Results
GC: Prairie “The Ambassadors” (BV)
1RU: El Paso-Gridley “Modulations” (BC)
2RU: Pella “AcaPella” (BB)
3RU: Iowa City “4th Avenue Jazz Company”
4RU: North Polk “Nexus”
5RU: Western Dubuque “5th Avenue”
What a difference a week makes. Prairie wasn’t even on the schedule a week before the competition, but a late switch from attending Onalaska meant that the competition was wide open. The Ambassadors stopped a potential El Paso-Gridley win streak in its tracks with a split-caption decision. They’ll face several other contenders at Linn-Mar this upcoming weekend. Pella proved that they need to be right up there in the ‘best 3A group in the state’ conversation, beating an Iowa City group that won two competitions last year and taking the overall band award. North Polk demonstrated that maybe they need to enter that conversation too (alongside Pella, Fort Madison, Bishop Heelan, Benton, Marion, and all the other contenders) with a solid finals berth, beating two 4A programs in the process. Remember, it’s only their third competition season!
Onalaska Show Choir Classic
Final Results
GC: Westside “Amazing Technicolor Show Choir” (BV/BC/BB)
1RU: La Crosse “River City Revolution”
2RU : Sauk Prairie ”Executive Session”
3RU: Monona Grove “Silver Connection”
4RU: Milton “Choralation”
5RU: Tomah “Limited Edition”
Doran Johnson’s farewell tour starts with yet another classic Westside early-season win in Wisconsin, this time cleaning out a Bemidji-less field at Onalaska. La Crosse and Sauk Prairie parlayed feedback and experience from already competing in 2025 to fill out the podium. Monona Grove and Milton were two choirs that were forced to withdraw from the 2024 Classic due to snow, and both made the most of their return appearances. Silver Connection and Choralation are both looking to be improved groups from where they were last year, with Milton having some real spoiler potential at some competitions later in the season. Tomah rounded out the placements, making finals at Onalaska for the first time in program history.
Sioux Falls Jefferson Cavalier Classic
Final Results
GC: Lincoln Southwest “Resonance” (BV/BC/BB)
1RU: Waukee Northwest “Eos”
2RU: Lewis Central “Corporation”
3RU: Waconia “Power Company”
4RU: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express”
5RU: Sioux Falls Washington “Classic Connection”
Of all the competitions this week, Sioux Falls Jefferson was probably the last one that anyone would predict a sweep at. Lincoln Southwest, however, did just that. Their Grinch-themed show is off to just as hot of a start as last year’s Chicken Little show was. Rez swiped all three major captions from Waukee Northwest and Waconia, who were also expected to factor into the discussion. Lewis Central played spoiler in a major way, defeating all of the local South Dakota groups and Waconia. Sioux Falls Washington also showed up in a big way, taking a head-to-head win over Roosevelt and winning the womens division. Executive Suite missed finals for the first time since this same competition two years ago, and they will look to rebound this weekend in a loaded Gretna field.
Catch the references to Linn-Mar, Gretna, and other competitions on January 18? HomeRoom has you covered with a Comps of the Week column late this week previewing those and other top show choir competitions around the country.
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