Comps of the Week: 3/29/25

As the season winds down, each individual competition garners more attention, giving the attending choirs a bigger chance to shine.

Brandon Show Choir ELITE

The Lineup (groups from Mississippi unless noted)

Extra-Large Mixed: Madison Central “Reveille”, Mt. Zion “Swingsations” (IL)

Large Mixed: Jackson Academy “Encore”, Jackson Prep “Reveillon”, Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”

Middle Mixed: Burleson “Breakaway” (TX), Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”, Rosa Scott “Radiance”, South Jones “Company”

Small Mixed: Burleson Centennial “Shades of Blue” (TX), Pisgah “Innergy”, Rome “Grand Finale” (GA), Wayne County “Orange Sensations”

Single-Gender: Mt. Zion “Les Femmes” (IL), Mt. Zion “You’ve Got Male” (IL), Northwest Rankin “The Allure”, Northwest Rankin “The Ambition”

Originally scheduled for the Brandon Ampitheater, Elite will now take place in the Brandon High School gymnasium, making it a rare gym competition in the south. With no finals, the focus shifts to divisional battles and a potential overall top five. Mt. Zion has shown the best top-end placements of any choir here this season, but Swings are coming off a finals miss at Wheaton Warrenville South. The Ambassadors have made finals everywhere they’ve gone this year, losing to the best groups in the region but putting themselves firmly ahead of groups like Madison Central, JA, and Prep. Middle mixed will see one last chance for Northeast Jones to get a lick back on South Jones, who came out on top in the most recent matchup between the two. An incredibly intriguing small mixed division is also in store, featuring an undefeated-in-division Rome, a consensus top-five group in Pisgah, perennial contender Wayne County, and Texas traveler Burleson Centennial.

Heart of America Orlando

The Lineup

Mixed: Ankeny Centennial “Spectrum” (IA), Carroll “Magic” (IN), Findlay “First Edition” (OH), Prairie “The Ambassadors” (IA)

Festival: Tarpon Springs “Syndicated Sound” (FL)

Womens: Ankeny Centennial “Vortex” (IA), Carroll “Select Sound” (IN)

While this is not the deepest HOA Orlando lineup in the world, every single group in the mixed division brings something to the table. Ankeny Centennial has sliced and diced with Iowa’s best this season and enters this contest having lost to three total groups all year: Johnston, Ankeny, and Millard West. Carroll has won four times this year and is coming off a sweep of Brownsburg at Noblesville this past weekend. Prairie notched a win to open the season on January 11 and has been a consistent finalist this year, improving towards the end of the season to notch a strong third at Liberty. Findlay, in its first season of direction under David Coolidge, has been a solid middle-of-the-pack Ohio large mixed group this year. However, First Edition only started its competitive season on February 15, meaning that they might peak at the right time this weekend. Both Vortex and Select Sound have run over their local scenes this year, outclassing several other womens groups in their immediate vicinity. All four varsity mixed groups will make mixed finals and both womens groups will advance to their own set of finals, meaning everyone has a shot to make a change and get them to the next level in finals.

Martinsburg The American Classic

The Lineup (groups from West Virginia unless noted)

Large Mixed: Jefferson “Pop Singers”, Sissonville “Touch of Class”

Middle Mixed: Grafton “Entertainers”, Tuscarora “Titan Tempo” (MD)

Small Mixed: Hedgesville “Drastic Measures”, Frederick “High Fidelity” (MD)

The American Classic is situated in the West Virginia panhandle, a fair bit of distance away from many of the state’s show choir programs, and is after the state contest, the unofficial end to the season. That combination of factors this year results in a smaller field with no sure-fire contenders in attendance. However, that offers the groups in attendance one of the best opportunities of the season. Jefferson has been second, third, and fifth overall at competitions this year, and is the highest returning choir from last year. Sissonville has made finals, whether overall or small mixed, at every competition this season, and Isaac Cobb has nabbed several Best Soloist awards. Grafton was second in festival mixed at state last weekend, and Frederick nabbed a podium spot in small mixed at Manchester two weeks ago. Nobody on the lineup has won The American Classic before; in fact, Sissonville is the only choir here with an overall win to their name (a sole triumph at St. Clairsville in 2017). Whoever comes out on top will remember their victory for years to come.

Oceanside Sound-Off

The Lineup (groups from California unless noted)

Advanced Mixed 1: Burbank “In Sync”, John Burroughs “Powerhouse”, John F. Kennedy “Executive Order”, Los Alamitos “Soundtrax”, Marysville “Swingers Unlimited” (OH)

Advanced Mixed 2 Large Group: Carlsbad “Sound Express”, Cypress “High Voltage”, Diamond Bar “Marquis”, La Cueva “Underground” (NM), Valley Vista “Vocal Thunder” (AZ)

Advanced Mixed 2 Small Group: Bonita Vista “The Music Machine”, Brea Olinda “Masquerade”, Hart “Sound Vibrations”

Intermediate Mixed: John Burroughs “Sound Waves”, Los Alamitos “Connexion”, Valley Vista “Voltage” (AZ)

Novice Mixed Large Group: Eisenhower “Ike Singers”, Norco “New Generation”, Willow Canyon “Evolution” (AZ)

Novice Mixed Small Group: Diamond Bar “Diamondtones”, El Camino “Aurum Adrenaline”, Esperanza “Reverberation”, Hart “Hart ‘n Soul”

Advanced Womens 1: Burbank “Blue Impressions”, John Burroughs “Sound Sensations”, John F. Kennedy “First Ladies”, Los Alamitos “Soundtrax”

Advanced Womens 2: Brea Olinda “Spellbound”, Hart “Hartbreakers”

Intermediate Womens Large Group: Diamond Bar “Solitare”, John Burroughs “Decibelles”, Los Alamitos “Xquisite”, Valley Vista “Tempest” (AZ)

Intermediate Womens Small Group: Bonita Vista “Sound Unlimited”, Valley Vista “Vortex” (AZ), Walnut “Rhapsody in Blue”

Novice Womens: Carlsbad “Encore”, Eisenhower “Ikettes”, Los Alamitos “Axcent”, Willow Canyon “Willow Wisps” (AZ)

Mens: Diamond Bar “Radiant”, Hart “Unleashed”, John Burroughs “Men@Work”, Los Alamitos “Xtreme”

Wow, that’s a lot of divisions. 12, to be exact. Up top, it’s the once-yearly battle between the entire California Big Three. All come in with different stories. Los Alamitos was most recently in the public eye of the show choir community, as they are coming off a second at Show Choir Nationals last weekend. Burroughs was serving as ambassadors for the community last weekend, as Powerhouse performed at the ACDA national conference in Dallas. Burbank has only competed once so far this season, taking both music and show at Valley Vista. Also in advanced mixed 1 is John F. Kennedy, who narrowly lost to Glendora this past week, and Marysville, who has gone undefeated in Ohio so far this season. While it is unlikely that either group will mount a serious challenge to the Big Three, both have good shows. In the next division down, several worlds collide. La Cueva was fourth in finals at Valley Vista and is making its annual trip out to the west coast. Diamond Bar is most recently coming off a finals miss at Wheaton, but has split captions with Glendora earlier this season. Valley Vista’s only competitive appearance so far this season was a second to Horizon at Boulder Creek. Cypress is new to the advanced division this year, and Carlsbad made a late jump up to advanced mixed for this competition alone, a nice rebound for a program that took a very big hit during the pandemic. There are so many stories to tell down the lineup as well, meaning both Friday and Saturday will be full of livestreamed action.

There are sure to be momentous results from Maryland to Mississippi this weekend – check back early next week for details on what they all mean!