My friend and I saw the line up for this competition and booked flights that night!! We are flying 850 miles from Mississippi and are super excited! It should be well worth it.
I have compiled some fun facts on this comp and the groups competing over time. I am going to try and release a little bit as we continue to get closer to the comp.
Going back, on average, 4-6 years per group, these groups have competed at 173 competitions.
Out of those 173 competitions they have:
Won Best Vocals 92 times (53% of the time)
Won Best Choreo 78 times (45% of the time)
Won Best Band 41 times (34% of the time) *Took out WN & JB bc adult bands*
Won Grand Champion 88 times (51% of the time)
When was the last time any one of these groups DIDN"T make finals?
Only doing this because it's 3:57am and I can't sleep but...
(Also based on the database on SCC)
Buffalo Grove - 2008
Carmel - 2009
Hastings - *Possibly 2006
John Burroughs - *Possibly 2002
Naperville North - 2014
Waubonsie Valley - 2006
Wheaton North - 2014
*Some competitions had incomplete information
This just goes to show how dominant a lot of these groups are as well as how great a program has been built in just a short amount of time.
There are 7 legit finalists in this comp (in no particular order):
WV
Burroughs
Naperville North
Hastings
Wheaton North
Carmel
BG
When was the last time any one of these groups DIDN"T make finals? And one of these groups will end their day early. Every choir will have to be flawless in prelims. No way to predict this one other than to say there won't be a sweep.
I would die to get a plane out here to watch. This competition (as everyone knows) is going to be INSANE. Jealous of everyone who gets to attend in person!
GC: John Burroughs
1RU: Carmel
2RU: Waubonsie Valley
3RU: Hastings
4RU: Buffalo Grove
5RU: Wheaton North
6RU: Naperville North
I think Carmel will do very well. After seeing the results from the past few weeks, they've competed against the best(especially tonight) and SWEPT both times.. very impressive.
GC; Waubonsie Valley (BV)(BC)
1RU: John Burroughs
2RU: Hastings
3RU: Carmel
4RU: Buffalo Grove
5RU: Wheaton North
Judges love Waubonsie at this competition. I thought Burbank would take choreo 2 years ago and Waubonsie barely lost choreo to Clinton 3 years ago. Its gonna be very close. I'm gonna say no more than 10 points between 1st and 4th. Goodluck to all!
This is an amazing competition in so many ways. Always great talent, but also well run, great facility, friendly volunteers, and lots of food! If you are planning on attending, especially the finals, make sure you get there early or you won't get a seat!
Such great choirs I'm not going to predict a final outcome, but will predict these 6 for finalists...Waubonsie Valley (of course ), John Burroughs, Carmel, Hastings, Wheaton North, Buffalo Grove. Whoever brings it in the finals will be GC, that much I know for sure!
As of this evening, here are the 2016 records of several of the declared participants of this year's Choral Classic:
Hastings - UNDEFEATED - 4 Grand Championship wins, ALL complete sweeps. Buffalo Grove - UNDEFEATED - 2 Grand Championship wins, ALL with best vocals and 1 best choreography award. Waubonsie Valley - UNDEFEATED - 2 Grand Championship wins, ALL with best vocals. John Burroughs - UNDEFEATED - 1 Grand Championship win with best vocals and best choreography. Carmel - UNDEFEATED - 1 Grand Championship win with best vocals and best choreography.
The above groups have so far bested a very admirable pool of other nationally recognized heavyweight choirs including Burbank, Wheaton-Warrenville South, Waukee, Lin-Marr, Glenwood, Twinsburg, and Prairie.
In addition to those groups, Naperville North and Wheaton North are also coming to the table, each with a Grand Championship win of their own in 2016. To add to that, Wheaton North's two defeats this year were at the hands of Buffalo Grove and Waubonsie Valley.
Remarkably, at least one of these incredible groups won't make it to finals. And another group could completely surprise us and throw a further monkey wrench into someone's plans. The Choral Classic is always extremely competitive, but the term BLOODBATH doesn't even begin to do this year's event justice. I cannot wait.
Also, correct if I'm wrong Häakon, but are you implying that you still know more than we do and that another group is coming that wasn't on the list Ms. Cunningham provided??
Haha, no Nic... not at all! We just don't have a schedule yet so I (poorly) assumed that we didn't have a complete list. Somehow I missed that previous post...
You know what happens when you make an assumption... you make an ass out of "u" and "mption."
Regardless, this is still one of the most extreme showdowns of the year... which is all my post was intending to highlight.
Wheaton Warrenville South Choral Classic 2016
This is going to be one for the history books
), John Burroughs, Carmel, Hastings, Wheaton North, Buffalo Grove. Whoever brings it in the finals will be GC, that much I know for sure!
