Marysville Showcase Brings the 2026 Ohio Season to a Competitive Ending
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The 2026 Ohio show choir season has gone by so quickly, and this weekend the Marysville Showcase will bring it to a close. Still, the competition promises to be an exciting one, meaning that the 2026 Ohio season will end with a bang.
Last Weekend’s Results
Fairfield Crystal Classic:
Large Mixed -
1 - Loveland “By Request” (Visuals)
2 - Zionsville (IN) “Royalaires” (Vocals)
3 - Millard West (NE) “West In the Groove”
4 - Brandon (MS) “Brio”
5 - Plainfield (IN) “Belles et Beaux”
Large Single Gender -
1 - Plainfield (IN) “Femmes Fatales” (Visuals)
2 - Zionsville (IN) “Choralaires” (Vocals)
3 - Loveland “Allure”
Small Mixed -
1 - Tarpon Springs (FL) “Syndicated Sound” (Vocals, Visuals)
2 - Buckeye Valley “Visions”
3 - Norwood “The Silhouettes”
4 - West Jessamine (KY) “Dually Noted”
5 - West Jessamine (KY) “Fortissima”
Three winners in three finals divisions from three different states perfectly captures the competitiveness and national nature of this year’s Crystal Classic. In Large Mixed, Loveland proved that Ohio groups can still compete at a high level among national competition with their win here, setting them up quite well for Show Choir Nationals in two weeks. Zionsville took 2nd and Best Vocals. This was not at all a bad showing, but the Royalaires will likely need to improve this weekend to do well in a competitive Brownsburg field. Millard West rounded out the podium in 3rd, which makes this a successful trip for the Nebraska choir, while Brandon took 4th after travelling from Mississippi; this was the last competition of 2026 for both groups. Plainfield took the last finals spot and 5th overall, which is not a bad showing against this level of competition; they’ll be back in action this weekend at Lawrence Central in Indianapolis.
In Large Single Gender, Plainfield’s women’s group upset the Zionsville Choralaires to take Best Visuals and the win, with Loveland placing 3rd. The Choralaires took Best Vocals to remain vocally undefeated this season. In Small Mixed, Tarpon Springs made the most of their trip from the Tampa, Florida area with a commanding win in finals. Buckeye Valley was the top Ohio group in finals, placing 2nd and capping off a successful season for Visions. Norwood placed 3rd, a solid placement for the Silhouettes to cap off a year that has been a step up for them. West Jessamine, who made the trip from just south of Lexington, Kentucky, had both their mixed and women’s group make finals, placing 4th and 5th respectively. It was definitely a good showing for the Kentucky program, which has been on a steady rise for the past few years.
Solon Show Choir Invitational:
1 - Marysville “Swingers Unlimited” (Vocals, Visuals)
2 - Grove City “Touch of Class”
3 - Findlay “First Edition”
4 - Euclid “Varsity Chorale”
5 - North Royalton “Royal Harmony”
6 - Garfield Heights “Music Express”
Marysville is known for going on long win streaks, and with their win at SSCI, they’re up to four straight GCs. With their win at Solon, SU has gone undefeated against Ohio competition for the third consecutive season (they will not see any Ohio groups on their trip to Waltham at the end of March), showing that they remain Ohio’s top dog. Grove City pulled off something of an upset by beating Findlay and taking 2nd place, which was a nice way to cap off a season that saw them fall behind some other Ohio groups. Findlay, meanwhile, placed 3rd at SSCI for the third straight year; they’ll be making their return to Show Choir Nationals later this month and are definitely a group with potential to do well there. 4th-6th place was made up of Small Mixed groups. Euclid ended their season with a 4th place here, remaining undefeated against other small groups and continuing on their meteoric rise to the top of Ohio small mixed. North Royalton placed 5th, capping off another good season for Royal Harmony, while Garfield Heights snagged the last spot in finals and placed 6th, a great way to send off longtime director Stephen Pernod.
Now onto this week’s competition:
Marysville Showcase:
Large Mixed - Burbank (CA) “In Sync,” Beavercreek “Friends,” Olentangy “Keynotes,” Marion Harding “Harding Singers,” Fishers (IN) “Electrum”
Middle Mixed - Lebanon “Singers,” Ross “Legacy,” Lafayette Jefferson (IN) “First Edition,” Portsmouth “Expressions,” South Dearborn (IN) “Opening Knight”
Small Mixed - River Valley “Music Company,” Elgin “Energizers,” Lafayette Jefferson (IN) “A Capella,” Whitehall-Yearling “Music Unlimited,” Licking Valley “Vocal Impact”
Single Gender - Burbank (CA) “Blue Impressions,” Marion Harding “Singers Xtreme,” Lafayette Jefferson (IN) “Expressions,” Olentangy “She-Notes,” Fishers (IN) “Sound”
Marysville Showcase has grown into a competition that attracts groups from across the nation, meaning this year's lineup is quite competitive. Two Large Mixed groups are from outside of Ohio. One is from Indiana: Fishers, who fell behind Lafayette Jefferson at Homestead but did take the Visuals caption there. The other is Burbank, one of the titans of California show choir, who have a win over fellow Los Angeles titan Los Alamitos to their name this season and are quite possibly the favorites to win going in. The traveling groups will face some competition from the Ohio groups in Large Mixed. Olentangy is the only Ohio group here to have won a competition so far this season with their sweep at Marion Harding, and they’ve had some good results since then (most notably a 2nd place finish with Visuals at Teays Valley). Beavercreek and Marion Harding haven’t quite seen the same success this season, but both have made finals at all their other competitions and will look to do the same here.
Middle Mixed also has two groups coming from outside of Ohio, though unlike in Large Mixed both are from Indiana. One is Lafayette Jefferson, who has taken vocals off of top Indianapolis group Franklin Central this season and won all their other competitions despite having less than 30 members; if their past results are any indication, they should do quite well here. The other is South Dearborn, who have fallen from their usual position at the top of area Small Mixed divisions this year, though they still remain dangerous. Middle Mixed also has three Ohio groups. The best of these is probably Ross, who have multiple finals appearances and division wins in tough fields (including a Small Mixed win at Homestead) to their name this season. Lebanon has steadily improved, making the podium at their last competition, while Portsmouth has only competed in West Virginia so far, where they failed to make finals.
Small Mixed has the potential to be an interesting division as well. The only out of state group here is Lafayette Jefferson’s prep group, who have only competed against Fort Wayne small groups this season. The other groups are all from Ohio, and there have been surprisingly few matchups between them this season. River Valley did beat Elgin in the small division at Marion Harding in early February, and Music Company is the only group in the division with a finals appearance to their name (at Alliance a few weeks ago). Neither Whitehall-Yearling nor Licking Valley has seen any of the other groups in this division in 2026.
Despite the large number of out of state groups competing at Marysville, Single Gender is the only division where a majority of groups are not from Ohio. The clear favorite in this division is Fishers Sound, who have held their own against other top women’s groups in Indianapolis, with wins over women’s groups from Carmel, Brownsburg, Oak Mountain, and a tie with the Center Grove Debtones to their name. Sound did beat Lafayette Jefferson’s women’s group at Homestead, though Expressions has come back to win their division at their last two competitions. The biggest wildcard in this division is Burbank Blue Impressions, who will be making their season debut at this competition. The two Ohio groups in the division will have their work cut out for them keeping up with the out of state groups. The Olentangy She-Notes have a finals appearance and wins over women’s groups from Grove City and Marion Harding on their record this season, but they struggled two weeks ago against Winfield and ETC. Marion Harding’s men’s group, Singers Xtreme, has done okay this season in single gender divisions; they are the only men’s group in Ohio, so that makes them worth watching at this competition.
The Marysville Showcase will take 3 Single Gender finalists and 5 mixed finalists. The battle for finals in both of these divisions should be fairly competitive. In Single Gender, Fishers Sound is probably a lock, but beyond that really any combination of Burbank, Olentangy, or Lafayette Jefferson could make the finals. In Mixed, Burbank is likely a lock, and it’s a fairly safe bet that Lafayette Jefferson and Fishers will make it too. The likeliest scenario for the other two spots is that they go to 2 of the other 3 Large Mixed groups (Olentangy, Beavercreek, and Marion Harding), though it’s not impossible that a Middle Mixed group could pull off the upset and make finals. The Marysville Showcase should be quite the competitive event across all division, and a fitting end to the 2026 Ohio show choir season.