By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief
One group holds serve over its region, two powers win their first competitions of the year and an upstart Ohio group rises above a chaotic field.
Loveland Showfest
Final Results
GC: Fairfield “Choraliers” (BV)
1RU: Hurricane “Red Hot” (BC/BB)
2RU: Olentangy “Keynotes”
3RU: Beavercreek “Friends”
4RU: Hurricane “Heat Wave”
5RU: Fairfield “Pure Elegance”
Notice a couple things about this set of results? For one, there are six finalists instead of the originally planned five. A scoring error announced Fairfield Pure Elegance in finals when the fifth group was actually Hurricane Heat Wave. Instead of booting PE from finals, Heat Wave was added as a sixth group and Loveland’s exhibition was moved to the middle of finals to allow some more time in between groups from the same program. The second thing is that ETC is missing. All Americans’ 14-competition finals streak was snapped. It’s been a rough couple weeks for ETC, which suffered time penalties last week at Marion Harding. The winner, Fairfield, is arguably the third biggest storyline from this competition. Choraliers are back in the win column after going winless last season. They did it in their debut competition against Hurricane, who competed for the third time. Fairfield sat third in prelims behind Hurricane and Beavercreek, so it was a nice jump in finals. Ross scored a breakout win in small mixed in what has been a markedly better second year under Hallie Thompson.
Papillion-La Vista South Titan Classic
Final Results
GC: Gretna “Revolution“ (BV/BC/BB)
1RU: Westside “Amazing Technicolor Show Choir”
2RU: Omaha South “The Ambassadors”
3RU: Lincoln East “Express”
4RU: Millard North “Infinity”
5RU: Elkhorn South “Blackout”
When one choir slightly rises, another one slightly falls. Gretna Revolution took a well-earned trip back to the winner’s circle for the first time this year in their second outing. With that, Westside took second for the first time this season, ending an electric three-competition winning streak. Truly, South Titan Classic lived up to its name this year. Omaha South is a show that seemingly gets better by the week. This week, Ambassadors toppled Lincoln East, checking another name off the list. Millard North has now been fifth, fourth, and fifth this year – they’ll head to Chesterton this weekend to tackle some out-of-state giants. A week after experiencing the great high of second behind Gretna East at Lincoln East, Elkhorn South falls to sixth. It’s certainly not a panic moment for Blackout – in a competition this deep, someone had to be the last group in finals. A bright spot for Elkhorn South was the womens division, which saw Shockwave lead Millard North and Westside on the podium for that division. Gretna also came out on top in prep, where Evolution beat Westside Warrior Express and Elkhorn South Power Surge.
Troy Buchanan Show Choir Invitational
Final Results
GC: Urbandale “Studio” (BV/BC/BB)
1RU: Blue Valley “Chamber Singers“
2RU: Mt. Zion “Swingsations”
3RU: Marquette “Center Stage”
4RU: Mt. Zion “Les Femmes”
5RU: Urbandale “Vitality“
Despite any troubles they may have had earlier in the season, Urbandale can at least say that they walked into another state and swept during this season. Their Home Alone show was the class of the field at Troy Buchanan, and they’ll play host to one of the best events in the country this upcoming weekend. Blue Valley has taken another giant step forward this year, with their Peter Pan show tugging at the heartstrings of audiences in both prelims and finals while having solid fundamentals and technique. Mt. Zion may need some time to grow into their show this year, but it will come; Swings certainly showed plenty of potential. Marquette is quietly putting together a solid season, as Center Stage will look to contend for a finals berth at Glenwood in a couple weeks. In the battle of lower-division groups that made finals, Mt. Zion Les Femmes kept up their momentum from the end of 2024, outpacing Urbandale Vitality and several varsity mixed groups.
Wildcard: Tantasqua Show Choir Spectacular
Large Mixed: 1st) Waltham “Music Unlimited” (BC) 2nd) Daniel Hand “VIBE” (BV/BB) 3rd) South Windsor “Choral Spectrum”
Small Mixed: 1st) Scranton “First Edition” (BV/BB) 2nd) Natick “West Street Singers” (BC) 3rd) Bishop Hendricken “Paramount”
Womens: 1st) Scranton “Glitter & Gold” (BV/BC/BB) 2nd) Andover “Nothin’ But Treble”
New England’s two-competition early-season run has concluded, and Waltham is the winner. Music Unlimited took its second win in as many weeks at a Spectacular event that was under the constant threat of weather wiping out some performances. Daniel Hand made progress, taking a vocals caption off Waltham. South Windsor, while third, certainly cannot be counted out of the conversation later in the season either. Like Waltham, Scranton First Edition won its division for the second week in a row, but it wasn’t without challengers. Natick, in its first competition under the direction of Bethany Spielman, danced their way to Best Choreography and second place. Bishop Hendricken regressed second to third but still beat a host of competitors, including Shepherd Hill and Somerset Berkley. Scranton Gillter & Gold won its division in the group’s first competition since 2020. It’s their first division win since Tantasqua in 2019, where they beat Lowell Soundsations and Shepherd Hill Testostertones. The New England circuit will pause until March 1, except for some travelers. Waltham will be at Franklin Central in two weeks, which will certainly be something to watch.
The upcoming weekend is promising to be even more packed with show choir, so be sure to come right back and read Comps of the Week later in the week.