Texas Moves Ahead from Lone Star to Southlake

By Kortney Minnick, Texas contributor

The main sprint of the Texas season is now coming to a close, as four competitions were held (at least partially) in February. The inaugural Southlake Carroll Showdown this weekend will be the last competition of the year in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, meaning that several groups will leave it all on the line this weekend.

Keller Central Lone Star Show Choir Invitational

Lone Star Invitational has come and gone, and with that, Texas now officially has a new number one. Keller Blue Lights took home Grand Champion, Best Choreography, Best Vocals, Best Band, Best Soloist and Best Performer. This placement solidified their jump from second at the end of last season into first this season. First runner up went to a rising Pantheon from Fossil Ridge High School. Pantheon also went home with Best Performer and Best Soloist. Their consistent record of success makes them a top three this season. Continuing on, LD Bell’s Bell System took home third place and will be competing for the last time this weekend at the Southlake Carroll Showdown. Speaking of Southlake, The SLC also made finals at Lone Star, taking their highest placement of the season at fifth. Although their season is now over, The SLC will be a group to watch out for in coming seasons. Highlighting the prep category, Lumina from Keller High School swept the division with Best Choreography, Best Vocals and Best Soloist. Southwest High Schools Sound Machine took home first runner up along with the Rising Star award and a Best Soloist.

Southlake Carroll Showdown

Looking forward, this weekend is the Southlake Carroll Showdown, a new competition for the region. With 15 high school groups attending and seven finalists, it will be a long but entertaining day. This competition is turning out to be the biggest of the year for the Texas circuit, with five of the top show choirs competing and out-of-state group Broken Arrow coming back into Texas to compete. Something to look out for is the matchup between Broken Arrow Tiger Rhythm and Keller Blue Lights. Blue Lights is previously undefeated in the state of Texas and Broken Arrow is also on a winning streak, winning in Minnesota last weekend. This will be Keller's last competition of the year and they are going to want to go out keeping their winning streak alive. The likely top three for this competition in no order will be Tiger Rhythm, Blue Lights, and Pantheon, as they have had a record-breaking season for the program. Other ensembles to watch for placements this weekend would be Southwest Effect, Bell System and Voices of Central as they are all hungry to place as the Texas competition season comes to a close.