Full Speed Ahead: A Southern Show Choir Recap (2/14/26)
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After this last weekend of Southern show choir, nearly every competing group this season has debuted their show. With that said, it's full speed ahead for the season! Of course, with a large mix of new and tested shows, some interesting results were sure to have taken place. Plenty can be gleaned from them as well to inform the rest of the season.
Homewood Show Choir Invitational
Clinton performs at the Homewood South Central Classic | PHOTO: Attaché Show Choir
The biggest story at this event lies in a single caption. Despite Clinton coming away with a Grand Championship title (*gasp*), it wasn’t without a fight. Oak Mountain not only placed second, but they claimed the Show Design caption as well. This marks the first caption taken from Clinton since 2020, when Wheaton Warrenville South came down to the circuit to meet the powerhouse at Petal. Another interesting thing to note from this event was the split between 1RU (Oak Mountain) and 2RU (Auburn). Both groups had a 3-2 judge split, with the three for Oak Mountain voting for a higher placement than the Auburn three. This extremely close margin will be interesting to watch between these two groups going forward, especially considering Auburn’s fifth at Oak Mountain. Northwest Rankin took care of business out-of-state, defeating a strong Spain Park group to place 3RU.
The rest of this competition wasn’t anything too crazy, as the favorites seemed to do their job in each division. The trio of favorites in Sumrall, Pisgah, and Oak Mountain Muses swept their respective divisions. This gives Sumrall their first divisional win of the year, Pisgah a divisional win in their debut for the year, and Muses a win in their debut performance as well. All in all, this competition had plenty of small notes to be aware of despite the overall result. Final results are as follows:
GC) Clinton “Attaché” (BV/BC)
1RU) Oak Mountain “Singers” (Overall Effect)
2RU) Auburn “Varsity Singers”
3RU) Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”
4RU) Spain Park “Rhapsody In Blue”
1st in Large) Clinton “Attache”
1st in Middle) Sumrall “Legacy”
1st in Small) Pisgah “Innergy”
1st in Single-Gender) Oak Mountain “The Muses”
Tupelo King City Classic
Briarwood emerged as the victor at the King City Classic. PHOTO: Briarwood Fine Arts Academy
Arguably the most tumultuous and interesting competition of the weekend ended up being in Tupelo, where a myriad of stories took place. For starters, Briarwood caught many people off guard (including this author) and defeated Grenada (despite Visions winning the choreography caption), earning the title of Grand Champion along with the vocals and show design caption. The interesting tidbit will be to see which of the following this result implies: Is Briarwood getting THAT good? Or is this Grenada show not as elite as their recent years? Only time will tell.
It doesn’t end there, as judges also had rookie-season Hamilton place over a solid Prairie group, with the two earning 2RU and 3RU respectively. Biloxi rounded out the five finalists. As for the other divisions, nothing too insane took place. Jasper separated themselves from Pearl River Central and Clinton Christian Academy to win the 2A division and Biloxi Sound Sirens won their own respective division as well. Final results are as follows:
GC) Briarwood “Radica” (BV/Show Design)
1RU) Grenada “Visions” (BC)
2RU) Hamilton “Legacy”
3RU) Prairie “The Ambassadors”
4RU) Biloxi “Sound Surge”
Only Group in 4A) Grenada “Visions”
1st in 3A) Prairie “The Ambassadors”
1st in 2A) Jasper “Phoenix”
1st in Single Gender) Biloxi “Sound Sirens”
West Jones Invitational
This competition was about as straightforward as possible, with heavy favorite Petal sweeping the competition, and all following groups lining up behind in divisional order. In 1RU and 2RU, respectively, were 3A groups Northeast Jones and Oak Grove. In 3RU, was only 2A group present, South Jones. Rounding out the top five in 4RU was the Petal Innovations (competing only against Purvis in the single-gender division). Rounding out the event in the 1A division was a West Marion win over Pass Christian, Wayne County, and Columbia Academy. With this being a no-finals competition and everything fell in divisional order, it’s a bit more cut-and-dry in the moment with limited applicability to future events. Final results are as follows (No finals):
GC) Petal “Soundsations” (Sweep)
1RU) Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
2RU) Oak Grove “Center Stage”
3RU) South Jones “Company”
4RU) Petal “Innovations"
Only Group in 4A) Brandon “Brio”
1st in 3A) Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
Only Group in in 2A) South Jones “Company”
1st in 1A) West Marion “New Era”
1st in Single Gender) Petal “Innovations”
Rome Three Rivers Show Choir Invitational
Tift County performs at the Three Rivers Invitational PHOTO: Tift County Show Choirs
Similar to the West Jones Invitational, everything here shook down as expected (albeit with the favorite/winner coming from the middle division). Tift County came away with the Grand Champion title, winning the vocals caption, show design caption, and middle division title in the process. Donelson Christian Academy would go on to place 1RU and win both the choreography caption and the large division title. The single-gender division was non-competitive, with Tift County Ladies Choice populating that division. Final results are posted below (No finals):
GC) Tift County “8th Street Singing Company” (BV/Show Design)
1RU) Donelson Christian Academy “Legacy” (BC)
1st in Large) Donelson Christian Academy “Legacy”
1st in Middle) Tift County “8th Street Singing Company”
Only Group in Single-Gender) Tift County “8th Street Singing Company”
Travelers!
This last weekend, the South featured a program making their way out to an absolutely loaded competition at the Chesterton Trojan Classic. While they unfortunately did not win either division competed in (large mixed or large womens), Brandon Brio was able to make finals over impressive groups like Carroll and Cosby and finish in 4RU overall.
Looking Forward
With another round of Southern show choir in the books, it’s time to look forward to the third weekend of the season. Here’s a brief look below at some of the upcoming competitions (and featured groups) this next weekend.
Jackson Prep Show Choir Masters (Jackson, Miss.)
- Clinton “Attaché”
- Brandon “Brio”
- Tupelo “Synergy”
- Madison Central “Reveille”
- Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”
- Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
- Oxford “Sound”
- Pisgah “Innergy”
Petal Show Choir Invitational (Petal, Miss.)
- Homewood “The Network”
- Avon “Accents”
- Spain Park “Rhapsody In Blue”
- South Jones “Company”
- West Marion “New Era”
- Pass Christian “Luminary”
- Avon “Attraction”