By Quinn Masek, Siouxland contributor
There’s a lot to be excited about for this weekend's Best Of Show competition in Sioux Falls. Celebrating their 25th year this weekend, Washington has something special up their sleeves: an alumni choir will take the stage right before finals. Also, all of Sioux City East's choirs will be attending this competition instead of the Cameron Invitational in a last-minute decision, bringing extra spice to the lineup.
To showcase the longevity of this event, here are all the groups who’ve won at Best Of Show.
2001: Missing Statistics
2002: Linn-Mar “10th Street Edition” (BV, BC, BB)
2003: Missing Statistics
2004: Totino-Grace “Company Of Singers” (BV, BC, BB)
2005: Missing Statistics
2006: Missing Statistics
2007: Sioux City East “The Headliners” (BV, BC, BB)
2008: Sioux City East “The Headliners” (BV, BC)
2009: Sioux City East “The Headliners” (BV, BC)
2010: La Crosse Central “Grand Central Station” (BC, BB)
2011: O’Gorman “Ovation” (BB)
2012: Mitchell “Friend de Coup” (BV, BC, BB)
2013: La Crosse Central “Grand Central Station” (BC)
2014: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express” (BV, BB)
2015: St. Francis “Bridge Street Singers”
2016: Bloomington Kennedy “Rhythm In Gold” (BV, BC)
2017: St. Francis “Bridge Street Singers” (BV)
2018: Sioux Falls Roosevelt “Executive Suite” (BV, BC, BB)
2019: Cancelled
2020: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express” (BV, BB)
2021: Mitchell “Friend de Coup” (BC, BB)
2022: Mitchell “Friend de Coup” (BV, BC)
2023: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express” (BV, BC, BB)
2024: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express” (BV, BC)
2025: Upcoming
There are a few interesting things of note here:
● Aberdeen Central has won this competition the most times (four).
● Sioux City East has the longest win streak in this competition (three, 2007-2009). Aberdeen Central could tie them this year with an Eagle Express win.
● La Crosse Central is the winner located farthest away from the competition venue (just about 300 miles).
● St. Francis won in 2015 despite not receiving a single caption award.
● O’Gorman was the first Sioux Falls school on record to win here, coming from behind against Sioux City East to win in 2011.
● Aberdeen Central had its first win in program history here in 2014.
The Lineup
Prep Division
Sioux City East “New Sound”
Being the only group in the division, New Sound has done well enough for themselves this season. The group placed second to Lincoln Southwest at Burke, and it’s expected that they’ll have a good performance this weekend.
Single Gender Division
Sioux Falls Jefferson “Revelry”
Sioux Falls Roosevelt “Capitol Harmony”
Aberdeen Central “Special Request”
Sioux City East “Prestige”
Sioux City East “Entourage”
Sioux City East’s single gender groups have had a strong season so far, with Entourage even making finals earlier at Burke. This is also the first time a mens group has competed at Best of Show. The other non-Sioux City groups have all had an interesting season so far. Special Request is the fan favorite, but Revelry is in a good position to rank above them. There’s also hope Capitol Harmony can recover after disappointing placements at their other competitions this season.
Small Mixed
Dell Rapids “Espresso”
Spirit Lake “Music Factory”
There would’ve been three groups in this division, but Groton backed out for an unknown reason. This is Espresso’s third year competing, and they still haven’t made finals, meaning the group could be looking for a finals placement here. Music Factory has already started their season with a second-place finish and seems like the group to win the division.
Final Predictions
GC: Sioux City East “The Headliners” (BV/BC/BB)
1st Runner Up: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express”
2nd Runner Up: Sioux Falls Jefferson “Legacy”
3rd Runner Up: Sioux Falls Roosevelt “Executive Suite”
4th Runner Up: O’Gorman “Ovation”
5th Runner Up: Spirit Lake “Music Factory”
With The Headliners making a last minute appearance at Washington, it’s looking like they’re going to steal the competition from Eagle Express. The Headliners have won their other two competitions this season so far, while Eagle Express is coming off a sixth place finish at Millard West, the lowest they’ve placed since 2019. So far, Legacy has only placed fourth, but given the groups they’re facing, they could likely place on the podium. Executive Suite has yet to perform in finals this season, but that will likely change this weekend. O’Gorman missed out on finals a few weeks ago at Roosevelt’s competition, but observers expect to see them make improvements from the last competition. Finally, Music Factory is coming off a podium placement at Sioux Center, so seeing them make finals here seems like a fairly good bet. However, don't count out the winner of the single gender division from the finals field. As noted above, Entourage has already made it to the evening round once this season.
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