Winner's Circle, 4/18/26: Burroughs, Hough, John Muir Claim Wins

By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief

Winning isn’t everything, but it certainly is something. Here’s a look at who took overall Grand Championships this past weekend, and what it means in historical context.

Disclaimer: Win totals are sourced from showchoir.com. Only overall event grand champions are listed. Not every show choir competition is documented online, and as such, all win totals should be considered unofficial. To view a full spreadsheet of data, click here.

California

Luther Burbank: In a middle school-only contest, John Muir Imaginations took a music/show win over Eisenhower and Lakeside. It was Muir’s second recorded win at the event, coming after a 2020 win over Travis Ranch. Imaginations now have four overall event wins, a byproduct of California having consistent middle school-exclusive competitions. They have ascended to the top of the middle school stack, tying Iowa schools Excelsior and Regis for most recorded overall grand championships by a middle school.

Oceanside: John Burroughs Powerhouse took both major captions over Los Alamitos and Burbank. Burroughs went undefeated across four competitions this season, joining Center Grove, Clinton, Edmond Memorial and Linn-Mar as undefeated this year. It was Burroughs’ second win at Oceanside (the other came in 2022), their 55^th recorded win in California, and 70^th recorded win overall (those numbers include two from Sound Sensations at womens-only competitions). They are the seventh school to hit 70 recorded wins.

North Carolina

NC States: William A. Hough Howlin’ Huskies took the state championship over Voyager and Lake Norman. It is Hough’s third state championship, with previous wins in 2017 and 2018. They count the second-most state championships in history behind Voyager (six). Hough numbers five wins total, with two regional competition wins to their name from the mid-2010s.