Comps of the Week Recap: 2/28/26
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By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief
Regional powerhouses prevailed in all four featured contests this week, with Homewood, Linn-Mar, Center Grove and Carmel notching multiple-caption wins over quality competition.
Auburn Show Choir Showdown
Final Results
GC: Homewood “The Network” (Music/Show/Overall Effect)
1RU: Oak Mountain “Singers”
2RU: Grenada “Visions”
3RU: Spain Park “Rhapsody in Blue”
4RU: Briarwood Christian “Radica”
Expanded Coverage: Back to Irregularities: A Southern Show Choir Recap (Feb. 28)
In what some locals described as “the event of the year” in the south, handfuls of groups delivered action of all kinds. Homewood swept for the second straight weekend in a row; their sole remaining competition is a trip to Show Choir Nationals in three weeks. Oak Mountain held off a resurgent Grenada to take second; Singers will complete its season at Jasper this weekend. Grenada knocked all the doubts away with a podium finish; Visions will head to Biloxi to rematch with Tupelo this weekend. Spain Park completed a run of four straight finals appearances in Alabama’s core competitions, proving that they belong in the large mixed division. Briarwood delivered a tender, emotionally-charged performance to earn a spot in finals with their Stars and Dots show, based off the Max Lucado book You Are Special. Petal Soundsations did not make finals for the first time since 2018. It was the nature of the game that someone would miss out with six large mixed groups going for five finals spots. A first-in-its-region small mixed finals saw division titan Oxford win, followed by the steady hand of Chelsea and upstart Opelika in Elevations’ first year as a small mixed group. It was the first time an Opelika group of any kind made finals since Feb. 4, 2017.
Liberty Storm the Stage
Final Results
GC: Linn-Mar “10th Street Edition” (BV/BC/BB)
1RU: Ankeny Centennial “Spectrum”
2RU: Waukee “Millennium”
3RU: Cedar Rapids Kennedy “Happiness, Inc.”
4RU: Prairie “The Ambassadors”
5RU: Ankeny Centennial “Eternal Rush”
In the last big bout for eastern Iowa this season, a few of the region’s major players also did battle with some Des Moines-area stalwarts. After dropping a caption to Johnston at Urbandale, Linn-Mar walked away with a clean sweep of Storm the Stage. In doing so, 10SE stopped the previously unstoppable Ankeny Centennial Spectrum, who rounded out its run with the iconic lighthouse and Noah Kahan closer. Waukee took third at three of its four competitions this season, running one of the hardest handfuls of competitions they could’ve chosen this season. Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Izzy Westercamp continued her run of Best Soloist awards, claiming her fifth consecutive caption en route to the group’s fourth-place finish. Prairie capped off a pretty wild season that saw them place second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth once each. Ankeny Centennial Eternal Rush made their second finals appearance of the year, besting their sister group Vortex for the honor.
Mt. Zion Midwest Invitational
Mixed Final Results
GC: Center Grove “Sound System” (BV/BC)
1RU: Carroll “Magic”
2RU: Wheaton North “Flight” (BB)
3RU: Troy Buchanan “Express”
4RU: Glenwood “Titan Fever”
Womens Finals: 1st) Center Grove “Debtones” (BV/BC) 2nd) Carroll “Select Sound”
Expanded Coverage: Mt. Zion, Sullivan Brought Double the Show Choir to The 217
In its first Illinois appearance since the legendary Wheaton Warrenville South Choral Classic in 2024, Center Grove walked in and walked out, claiming the vocals and choreo captions while they were at it. Following directly behind them was Carroll Magic, who evened one out on Wheaton North after Flight beat Magic for a finals spot at Chesterton on Feb. 14. Flight, to its credit, has not lost to an Illinois show choir since Feb. 10, 2024, a run of over two years at this point. Troy Buchanan has concluded its Midwest tour for the year, winning at Neosho, placing third at El Paso and now fourth here. They will conclude their overall season at Andover in Massachusetts on Mar. 21. After a 2025 Midwest Invitational that saw Glenwood on the outside of finals looking in, Titan Fever continued a bit of a resurgent 2026 season by advancing to the evening round. After a two-finals 2025 season, Glenwood has doubled that count in 2026. Naperville North and Marquette were the large mixed groups on the outside looking in. In the womens finals, the Debtones took care of business after placing second at their previous competition at Pike on Feb. 14.
Wildcard: Franklin Central Hoosier Show Choir Classic
Final Results
GC: Carmel “Ambassadors” (BV/BC)
1RU: Fishers “Electrum”
2RU: Brownsburg “Spotlight Singers & Company”
3RU: Plainfield “Belles et Beaux”
Womens Finals: 1st) Fishers “Sound” (BV/BC) 2nd) Carmel “Accents” 3rd) Plainfield “Femmes Fatales”
Carmel crossed the three-competition threshold on Saturday, appearing in the Indianapolis metro area for the first time in 2026. The results? No different than their previous appearances in northern Indiana, with Ambassadors claiming both vocals and choreography. Behind them, however, things got interesting. Fishers claimed the runner-up spot ahead of Brownsburg, a choir it will see at Show Choir Nationals on Mar. 20. Spotlight advanced to finals for the first time this season and placed third heading into an Avon Vocal Invitational where they will be the favorite. Plainfield outpaced Lawrence Central and Robert C. Byrd to make large mixed finals; B&B will venture to Ohio this weekend as part of a loaded Fairfield Crystal Classic. The womens finals saw Fishers Sound ascend to the top placement; both Sound and Accents now sit at two wins and a runner-up finish this season. Plainfield Femmes Fatales beat Brownsburg Starlight Voices for the first time since 2024 to advance to finals and claim a podium spot.
March is when many choirs step up and take trips outside their comfort zone. Several of those stories will converge in this week’s Comps of the Week, the column of which will be published later this week.