Comps of the Week: 2/6/26

By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief

The Indianapolis metro season kicks off with a big contest, Oak Mountain brings battles in every division, Waukee Northwest features yet another Des Moines throwdown, and Papio South rings true to the name of Titan Classic.

Fishers Silver Spotlight Show Choir Invitational

The Lineup (all groups from Indiana)

Large Mixed: Center Grove “Sound System”, Lawrence Central “Central Sound”, Lawrence North “Legacy”, Noblesville “NHS Singers”

Medium Mixed: Ben Davis “Premiers”, Center Grove “Surround Sound”, Columbus North “Vocal Pointe”, Franklin Community “Heritage Singers”, Pendleton Heights “Pendletones”

Small Mixed: Anderson “Singers Unlimited”, Bloomington “Amplitude”, Pendleton Heights “Added Attraction”, Warren Central “Connection”

Large Womens: Center Grove “Debtones”, Columbus North “Vocal Pointe”, Lawrence Central “Sweets”, Lawrence North “Bella Bravada”, Noblesville “New Dimension”

Medium Womens: Ben Davis “Sounds”, Center Grove “Accents”, Franklin Community “Sensations”, Noblesville “Sensation”, Pendleton Heights “Emerald Suites”

Small Womens: Anderson “Starliters”, Franklin Community “Legacy”, Pendleton Heights “New Edition”, Warren Central “Hi-Lites”

The first competition of the season in the Indianapolis metro area is bringing something new to the scene, splitting groups into three divisions based on group size in a fashion similar to Alabama (more on that later). As a one-and-done competition, groups will not be going for combined placements but will instead be shooting for dominance in their division. Center Grove enters as the favorite in both large divisions, followed by Noblesville. However, medium mixed will be a pretty wild melting pot of choirs from different situations. Ben Davis and Columbus North are considered ISSMA large choirs but will compete in medium mixed based on group size, and both ensembles have the juice to light up the scoresheet. They will tangle with perennial small mixed standouts Pendleton Heights and FComm, the later of which is coming off a second at Batesville last weekend. Center Grove’s prep group, who rarely sees action against varsity-level groups, will provide yet another layer of flavor to the division. Small ensembles competed Friday night, but the results are unknown as of publishing time.

Oak Mountain King of the Mountain Invitational

The Lineup (groups from Alabama unless noted)

Large Mixed: Auburn “Varsity Singers”, Enterprise “Encores”, Hamilton “Legacy”, Homewood “The Network”, Madison Central (MS) “Reveille”, Spain Park “Rhapsody in Blue”

Middle Mixed: Helena “High Frequency”, Homewood “Continuum”, Jackson Prep (MS) “Reveillon”, Rosa Scott (MS) “Radiance”, Tift County (GA) “8^th Street Singing Company”, Vestavia Hills “Singers”, West Jones (MS) “Imagination”

Small Mixed: Cheslea “Out of the Blue”, Heritage Christian (KY) “Zamar”, Leeds “Emerald Voices”, Prattville “Spotlight”, West Marion “New Era”

Single-Gender: Auburn “Elan”, Auburn “Men at Work”, Enterprise “Esprit”, Homewood “Nexus”, Tift County (GA) “Ladies Choice”

Expanded Coverage: Oak Mountain, JASI, and NEJ Classic Mold Big Feb. 7 for Southern Show Choir

The second edition of King of the Mountain delivers just as much of an exciting lineup as the inaugural contest in 2025. Alabama’s two best large groups, Homewood and Auburn, will tango as The Network debuts its show for the season. Varsity Singers has been known to start strong and absolutely has the potential to make the battle at the top a very exciting one. The last three spots in finals, however, are truly up for grabs. Spain Park has an overall win at Hoover under its belt, besting Tift County and Enterprise along the way. Rhapsody in Blue is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in its second season as a large mixed group. Madison Central is debuting its show for the season after the cancellation of Northwest Rankin MusicFest, and the extra weeks will surely only help Reveille. In middle mixed, Tift secured an overall win at Tallassee last weekend, giving them serious momentum. West Jones is coming off a third overall at the Mississippi Contest and Continuum was third in division at Albertville; a finals berth would be a big step forward for both programs. If this competition didn’t have enough going for it, Hamilton Legacy is debuting as a competitive group all the way up in the large mixed division.

Waukee Northwest Nightfall

The Lineup (groups from Iowa unless noted)

Mixed: Ankeny Centennial “Spectrum”, Ankeny Centennial “Vortex”, Iowa City “4^th Avenue Jazz Company”, Plymouth (WI) “Momentum”, Ralston (NE) “RUSH”, Urbandale “Studio”, Waukee “Millennium”

Womens: Iowa City “Charisma”, Ralston (NE) “Runway”, Urbandale “Affinity”

Prep: Ankeny Centennial “Chaos”, Ankeny Centennial “Eternal Rush”, Urbandale “Vitality”, Waukee “Spirit”, Waukee Prairieview “Genesis”

Last year’s Nightfall featured a total of seven competing groups on Saturday; this year’s Nightfall is one of the best competitions in the country on this weekend. The top three groups will be throwing haymakers both in prelims and in finals. Ankeny Centennial is undefeated in two competitions so far this season and is the defending champion of Nightfall, but hasn’t competed since Jan. 17. Urbandale and Waukee will reprise their face-off from two weeks ago at Johnston. In that edition, Studio took the win, but with both programs taking steps up from last season, the same result is not guaranteed a second time. Whoever takes the top step on the podium will have definitely earned it. Iowa City should not be slept on, as 4AJC was a major player at a deep Linn-Mar competition earlier this season. Vortex always has potential to run with the big dogs as well. Plymouth and Ralston provide some out-of-state flavor in the mixed division; they will compete with the entirety of the prep division for the sixth finals spot.

Wildcard: Papillion-La Vista South Titan Classic

The Lineup (groups from Nebraska unless noted)

Mixed: Gretna “Revolution”, Millard West “West in the Groove”, Mitchell (SD) “Friend de Coup”, Papillion-La Vista “Free Spirit”

Single-Gender: Millard West “Uptown”, Papillion-La Vista “Heart and Soul”, Papillion-La Vista “Monarchy”

Prep: Gretna “Evolution”, Millard West “Swing Cats”

Expanded Coverage: Two Classics and a Showdown All Offer Feb. 7 Nebraska Action

While this is not the biggest lineup, it is a true representation of the competition name “Titan Classic.” Millard West is coming off a split-caption win over Gretna East at Lincoln East and is ranked #1 in HomeRoom’s latest Nebraska rankings. Who is ranked right behind them? Gretna. Revolution has competed once so far this season, and they were a very solid second to Linn-Mar at Gretna East. Who is another choir that has lost to Linn-Mar this season? Mitchell. There are three very realistic worlds in which Millard West is the top group here, Gretna is the top group here, and Mitchell is the top group here. The only unrealistic world is the one where the gap between the top three groups is a big one. The two-choir prep division also features arguably the top two prep groups in the state, and whoever wins that division will have a good claim to “best Nebraska prep group”. 

With so many good shows hitting the stage, there will be plenty to discuss at the end of the weekend. Comps of the Week Recap will be published early next week with all of the top takeaways.