Comps of the Week: 3/28/26

By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief

The southern and northeastern circuits see their final contests of the year, Heart of America Orlando brings arguably the best national lineup of the season, and Cypress presents even matchups in both advanced and intermediate.

Brandon Show Choir ELITE

The Lineup (groups from Mississippi unless noted)

Extra-Large Mixed: Jackson Academy “Encore”, Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”

Large Mixed: Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”

Middle Mixed: Burleson Centennial (TX) “Shades of Blue”, South Jones “Company”

Small Mixed: Clinton Christian “Extreme”, Morton “One A’Chord”, Pass Christian “Luminary”, Pisgah “Innergy”

Single-Gender: Cristo Rey Fort Worth (TX) “Blazin’ Blue”, Northwest Rankin “The Allure”, Northwest Rankin “The Ambition”

Additional Coverage: Southern Show Choir's Goodbye Weekend for the 2026 Season

The headliner at ELITE is a red-hot Northwest Rankin program, who turned a corner at Biloxi in early March and hasn’t looked back. The Ambassadors are in prime position to take their second consecutive win this season and their second consecutive win at Brandon, which would be a stout way to close director Toney Keeler’s run with the program. With no finals but an overall top five, things get interesting from there. Jackson Academy beat Northeast Jones at Biloxi, and those two groups should figure into the placements. However, South Jones is looking to make one final set of waves this year from the middle mixed division, and both Northwest Rankin single-gender groups are capable of showing off as well. The Ambition is just coming off a finals appearance at Madison Central last week. For the second year in a row, Brandon will feature multiple Texas ensembles, with Burleson Centennial making a return trip and Cristo Rey crossing state lines for the first time since going to Biloxi in 2024.

Cypress Star Reflections

The Lineup (all groups from California)

Advanced Mixed: Brea Olinda “Masquerade”, Carlsbad “Sound Express”, Hart “Collective Harts”, Pacifica “Encore”

Intermediate Mixed: Golden Valley “Melodies of Gold”, John Burroughs “Sound Waves”, Martin Luther King “Legacy”, Oceanside “Soundwaves”

Advanced Womens: Brea Olinda “Spellbound”

Intermediate Womens: Brea Olinda “Tiffanys”, Carlsbad “Encore”, John Burroughs “Decibelles”, Oceanside “High Seas”

Mens: Hart “Unleashed”, Oceanside “Riptides”

After last year’s edition of Star Reflections featured five mixed choirs across three divisions, this year’s contest almost makes that number in advanced mixed alone. Nobody in advanced mixed has won a contest overall this year, meaning a new face will ascend to the top. Although a couple of these groups have competed against each other this season, nobody has gone head-to-head in March, meaning there’s been a lot of time for shows to grow and develop. While all groups are de facto wild cards, Carlsbad is perhaps the biggest unknown quantity, as Sound Express started its season as an intermediate mixed group but will bump up here. Three of the top five intermediate mixed groups in the west (per HomeRoom’s latest western rankings) will square off, making that division quite enticing as well. John Burroughs’ intermediate groups are here alone after their advanced groups competed in Chicago; they will be the favorites to win their divisions. Oceanside, MLK and Golden Valley are all intermediate stalwarts and should be close on the scoresheet, no matter which order they end up in. Friday night’s action kicked off the competition with a bang, as Esperanza took a no-caption win over Norco (second with showmanship) and John A. Rowland (third with musicianship).

Heart of America Orlando

The Lineup

Championship Mixed: Huntington North (IN) “Varsity Singers”, Jackson Prep (MS) “Revellion”, Johnston (IA) “Innovation”, Johnston (IA) “Synergy”, Keller Central (TX) “Voices of Central”, Los Alamitos (CA) “Sound FX”, Madison Central (MS) “Reveille”, Mt. Zion (IL) “Swingsations”, Olentangy (OH) “Keynotes”, Westside (NE) “Amazing Technicolor Show Choir”

Open Mixed: Rosa Scott (MS) “Radiance”, Tarpon Springs (FL) “Syndicated Sound”

Womens: Huntington North (IN) “Viking Volume”, Los Alamitos (CA) “Soundtrax”, Mt. Zion (IL) “Les Femmes”, Olentangy (OH) “She-Notes”, Westside (NE) “Simply Irresistible”

Heart of America Orlando has a high bar for what can be considered a good lineup, but this one is just a couple clicks off the insane 26-group, nine-finalist 2018 lineup. While there are only 18 groups and five finalists this year (that was sarcastic), the lineup can go pound-for-pound with anything else this year has produced. The expected top two are Johnston and Los Alamitos. Innovation has won three of four contests so far this year and took a caption off Linn-Mar, while Sound FX has come up inches short to both Burbank and John Burroughs so far this season. Westside and Mt. Zion are both groups under new directors who have won multiple contests against fierce competition this season, giving them a proven track record in advance of this event. Keller Central, Olentangy and Huntington North also bring Grand Championships to the table, with Varsity Singers crowned the ISSMA Small School State Champion last weekend. Between the two outfits, Madison Central and Johnston Synergy have exclusively placed fourth this season (twice for MC and four times for Synergy). Both are contenders for finals, although placing fourth would be a big accomplishment for either group. No womens finals means that the morning will be hotly contested as well.

Waltham Eastern Show Choir Festival

The Lineup (groups from Massachusetts unless noted)

Large Mixed: Lowell “Sound Impressions”, Marysville (OH) “Swingers Unlimited”, Tantasqua “ENCORE!”

Small Mixed: Bishop Hendricken (RI) “Paramount”, Boston Latin “Pizazz”, Dartmouth “Dynamix”, Leominster “Ignition”, Musselman (WV) “Kaleidoscope”, Natick “West Street Singers”, Oliver Ames “Panache”, Penn Wood (PA) “Prime Time”, Somerset Berkley “Electrify”

Womens: Marysville (OH) “Swingers Select”, Somerset Berkley “Amplify”, Tantasqua “Applause”

Located near Boston, situated in prime spring break territory, and held in a brand-new large auditorium, Waltham has drawn a diverse lineup of groups this year. Marysville (and its 23-hour roundtrip) headlines the large mixed division, with Unlimited going for its fifth consecutive win this season. Tantasqua and Lowell have not faced each other yet this season, bringing one more matchup to the table for New England’s large mixed scene this year. Small mixed features a banner nine-choir field. Natick turned in a runner-up finish behind Shepherd Hill last week at Andover and performs last, two factors that bode well for West Street. Oliver Ames and Musselman have both captured small mixed division wins this year, and Dartmouth has been consistent, making those ensembles prime contenders for a top-three placement as well. Among the others is Penn Wood, a first-year program who debuted competitively last weekend at Powhatan in Virginia.

Comps of the Week Recap will hash out the results and make sense of them next week!