By Ava Sammons, Iowa contributor
Despite being a smaller 3A program, Anamosa assembled quite the cast for this year's Sadie Street Showcase. Aside from most of the eastern “big dogs”, Anamosa’s lineup contains many of the big and small programs from the Mississippi River side of the state. Choirs that tend to fall into the shadows of the best are getting the chance at their first win of the season. This weekend’s podium will be full of choirs who have yet to score in the top three, so these choirs are eager for the chance to have a breakthrough placement. Add in very successful small school choirs to the finals competition, and Anamosa will surely be a competition to watch.
Womens Division
Albia “Electric A’s”
Cedar Rapids Jefferson “Ovation”
Clinton “River Royalty”
Iowa City “Charisma”
Xavier “Xuberance”
Anamosa’s womens division is full of groups from throughout eastern Iowa, several of which have already competed against each other this season. Xavier Xuberance is the only choir coming into this competition with a win, but Charisma and Ovation aren’t too far behind them. Charisma won this competition in 2024 and came out above Ovation at Linn-Mar a couple weeks ago. Albia and Clinton have also faced each other so far this season, placing fourth and fifth respectively in Muscatine’s prep division. Despite the repeat matchups in this division, these results could go in a multitude of ways for these choirs’ mid-season competition.
Prep Division
Liberty “Impact”
Liberty Impact is gearing up for their second competition of 2025 after not placing in the top three at Waukee Starstruck. Impact stands as lone mixed prep group at this weekend’s competition, but remains eligible for a spot in finals.
4A Mixed
Cedar Rapids Jefferson “West Side Delegation”
Iowa City “4th Avenue Jazz Company”
Liberty “Storm”
Western Dubuque “5th Avenue”
Xavier “Xhilaration”
All of Anamosa’s 4A choirs are at different points in their competition season, but none of them have seen as much success so far as they’ve hoped for. Liberty missed finals at an absolutely stacked Waukee Starstruck and West Side Delegation didn’t make finals until their third competition this season. The reigning Grand Champions, 4th Avenue Jazz Co., have been fourth at both of their first two competitions but are a top contender for a win this weekend. Xavier and Western Dubuque have both taken the last finals spot at their competitions so far, but higher placements may be coming their way with a less stacked lineup this weekend. None of these groups have made it to the top three in finals yet, so it’s up in the air who will end up on this weekend’s podium.
3A Mixed
Center Point-Urbana “Summit Street Singers”
Marion “New Creation”
West Delaware “WD Forté”
Marion is the only group from the 3A division that’s hit the competition stage this season. New Creation has made consistent finals appearances thus far and is a prospective winner for this division. This competition is West Delaware’s first out the gate, which makes it hard to know what to expect from their show. Center Point-Urbana will start off their competition marathon (with four comps in 30 days) at Anamosa.
2A Mixed
West Branch “Christopher Jive and the Uptown 45”
Christopher Jive and the Uptown 45 (CJU45) will compete for the first time this season after hosting last weekend. CJU45 consistently makes it into finals and manages to hold their own against 4A and 3A schools; they certainly could be in the running to be a top-six group this weekend.
Final Predictions
GC: Iowa City “4th Avenue Jazz Co.” (BV/BC/BB)
1RU: Liberty “Storm”
2RU: Marion “New Creation”
3RU: Xavier “Xhilaration”
4RU: Cedar Rapids Jefferson “West Side Delegation”
5RU: West Branch “CJU45”
Combining all the divisions in Anamosa’s finals competition will shake things up from what happens during daytimes. Marion is on a roll this season, placing higher Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Western Dubuque at West Branch last weekend and beating top-notch 3A group Pella the week prior. Iowa City is hungry for a win after falling behind Midwest powerhouses the past few weeks, so this competition could give it to them. Liberty Storm also had a less-than-ideal start to their season after missing finals two weeks ago, so it will be interesting to see if they can rise above some less steep competition. Xavier and Cedar Rapids Jefferson will likely fall into place behind the top three, but it’s also possible that we see one of them making their way up to the podium, or even missing finals entirely. Western Dubuque and West Branch could both make it into the finals realm as well, with 5th Avenue rounding out the finals competitions at Muscatine and West Branch, and CJU45 placing in the top five overall at every competition in their 2024 season. This weekend’s eastern Iowa meetup will certainly be one to keep an eye on.
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