By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief
Hamilton Synergy was a surprise sensation near the end of the 2024 season. PHOTO: Ione Berken / @throughdarla
The jury is still out on Wisconsin’s 2024 season. There are equal chances that it becomes one of the seasons that everybody remembers and that it becomes just another one of those crazy seasons that a lot happened in. The upcoming 2025 season will go a long way in determining which category 2024 falls into.
In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of what happened in 2024: the state’s perennial top group (Onalaska) had major bumps in the road with their show before the season, dealt with a tragic loss inside the group during the season, came up just short to seemingly every out-of-state group who came to Wisconsin, only claimed one win all year, but still was the class of the state by a mile. A group who won its first competition ever at the end of 2023 (Tomah) missed finals at its first contest of 2024, only to win its next three appearances. A group who moved up to the varsity division in 2023 (Sparta) won its first competition ever, and another younger group (Hamilton) went from missing finals on February 1 to winning its first-ever competition on February 15.Â
You should take a break and catch your breath now.
A busy offseason news cycle followed the season proper, which didn’t end until April as Tomah and Sparta took the top two spots at the FAME National Finals. Two of Wisconsin’s longest-tenured and most successful groups, La Crosse Central and Logan, combined over summer into one new group, River City Revolution. West Salem brought back its women's group Vivace after a one-year hiatus. Tomah and Medford both announced new competitions. Tomah’s Cranberry Jamboree will be on January 4, and Medford’s Red White Spotlight will be on February 22. Sparta moved its competition from February 15 to February 1.
All of last year’s major players appear locked in and ready to go for another year in 2025. De Pere, the group that put an end to Tomah’s three-win streak, is back with the same creative team as last year. Same goes for Sauk Prairie, who was shut out of the win column in 2024 for the first time since the pandemic. Holmen and Reedsburg remain sneaky good choirs from the southwest region of the state. Preble and Neenah pose potent threats from the northeast, as well.
The midfield is crowded with groups who more or less need a solid 2025 to firmly establish who they are. Monona Grove struggled mightily in the beginning of the season before righting the ship at the end of February. After coming oh-so-close to not doing a showsical in 2024, Mayville seems right back on the edge of being a regular finals contender. New London’s momentum slowed in 2024 but is still a growing group.Â
As always, a number of groups are looking to make the step into becoming regular finals contenders. Plymouth has been there in the past, but did not make any finals in Wisconsin in 2024. Eau Claire North didn’t either, but they did at Cedar Rapids Jefferson in Iowa with a catchy Breakfast Club show. DeForest made a midseason jump to varsity after proving to be the class of the prep division and will continue learning in 2025. Janesville Craig surprisingly didn’t make any finals in 2024, but it was a transition year under new director Zachary Loving.
Here’s a primer on what you need to know as Wisconsin heads towards 2025:
What’s Changed?
Justin Ranek left Altoona Locomotion after seven years and is now the director at New London Middle School. Locomotion’s new director is Lauren Langfoss, who comes to Altoona from Ladysmith. Mark Traynor Quamme is the new choreographer, replacing Dominic Matas.
Matas has exited the Wisconsin choreography scene entirely, as Neenah Vintage has swapped him for Jeff Jordan.
Rob Clark retired from Westosha Central. Tim Wagner is Central Swing, Inc.’s new director, arriving in Salem from Baraboo.
After spending most of the 2023-2024 school year without a curricular choir director, Colby has hired Casey Hilts. Hilts is a recent UW-Eau Claire graduate and was a member of Ashland Lake Effect in high school. Kyle Aiden has been retained as choreographer.
Shane Coe has picked up a second Wisconsin group - Janesville Craig Spotlighters. Spots worked with Mark Traynor Quamme and Zachary Petit in 2024.
It is looking like Green Bay Southwest will be a noncompetitive program in 2025 following the departure of directors Brent Bergstrom and Ali VandeBerg. The Wisconsin show choir scene will lose the varsity mixed group Spotlight Singers and the Packerland Powerhouse Showcase.
Who’s on the rise?
Abbi Landrum took the reins of the Milton program in the very late stages of summer 2023. She brought Choralation to heights that many did not expect, including a finals berth in a crowded field at Fort Atkinson. Both groups, Choralation and Octave Above, will face a gauntlet schedule this year, with an early-season trip to a loaded Onalaska Classic and a late-season trip to an even more stacked Glenwood Event in the Springfield, Ill. area.
Eau Claire Memorial is admittedly not in its early-2010s glory days of winning competitions, but Aurora Krajnikconde has brought much-needed stability to the program. In her sixth season last year, the Old Abes had a quiet but successful season. They made the snowy trip to Onalaska and made finals there, a catalyst for a season with similar scenarios. Making the most of a few more opportunities in lighter fields, OASC made finals everywhere it went in 2024 - the first time that happened since 2013.
Gotta give some love to the girls groups, right? Fort Atkinson Lexington Singers really popped off in 2024, catching division wins at Milton and Monona Grove. With at least one more women's group doing battle in 2025, Lexington will have even more opportunities to show its mettle.
Who has something to prove this season?
The new combined La Crosse group is a totally unknown quantity heading into the season. The group features tandem direction from Ian Schultz and Adam Carty and is choreographed by Braxton Carr and Lexi Robson Buglewicz. A flurry of in-state battles this season, more reminiscent of a Logan schedule than a Central one, will test the group’s mettle in year number one.
A group that ended 2024 on the highest note possible was Hamilton Synergy, who won its last competition of the season at Monona Grove. However, at the competition before that, the group missed finals. Milton, Sauk Prairie and Monona Grove will all be tougher contests than last year, meaning that the group will need to always bring its A-game to have consistent success.
Neenah Vintage has always been a bit of a nomad within the Wisconsin show choir world, but that feeling has been more prominent than ever after the pandemic. Wildly different seasons in terms of group membership, show style and results have marked the past few years. With Dominic Matas exiting the Wisconsin market entirely, Vintage has a chance for a step on the right foot with new choreographer Jeff Jordan in 2025.
Which competitions are looking good?
Jan. 4: The Holmen Gathering and Tomah Cranberry Jamboree, respectively, will be the only two show choir competitions in America on that day. It will be nice to have the collective eyes of the nationwide show choir scene focused on La Crosse and Monroe Counties for a weekend. Sioux Falls Jefferson is making the trip to Gathering, adding an extra wrinkle for the choirs competing there.
Jan. 11: Chalk pick, but the Onalaska Classic is looking as good as ever. A healthy in-state contingent, including the new La Crosse group, Sauk Prairie, Holmen, and Monona Grove, will duel it out against Omaha Westside (back after being snowed out in 2024), Cedar Rapids Prairie and North St. Paul, among others. Here’s to hoping the snow stays away!
Jan. 18: Milton Rock the Rock will resume its status as one of the tightest schedules in Wisconsin. With no competitions that early in the season, nearby Illinois and Indiana groups will take the opportunity to test their shows in Wisconsin. Mundelein, Chesterton, Glenwood, and Oswego will tango with Sauk Prairie, Monona Grove, Fort Atkinson, La Crosse and others.Â
Jan. 25: Sauk Prairie will be an almost nationwide affair, with Waconia (Minnesota), Wahlert Catholic (Iowa), and Chesterton (Indiana) facing off against the usual contingent of Wisconsin staple choirs that make Sauk the great event that it always is.
Feb. 15: Monona Grove Silver Stage sees an invasion from three Iowa choirs, all from different parts of the Hawkeye State. Wahlert will make the (relatively) short drive from Dubuque, Iowa City High from, well, Iowa City, and Lewis Central will trek all the way from metro Omaha to metro Madison. How they’ll fare against a wildcard in-state field is to be determined.
Feb. 22: Medford Red White Spotlight is full for its inaugural year and will be a meaningful late-season contest for many groups. It’s nice to see a good event on the calendar in what was Brodhead’s traditional weekend pre-pandemic.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Lauren Lierman as the new director of Altoona Locomotion. We regret the error.
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