Participation award - everyone
Outstanding combo - Olentangy
Outstanding soloist - Emily Morris (Oak Mountain)
Outstanding performer - Ari Hammons (?)
Outstanding stage crew - Mt Zion
7th place - Enterprise
6th place - El-Paso Gridley
5th place - Olentangy
4th place - North Central
Outstanding Visuals - Oak Mountain
3rd place - Mt Zion
Outstanding Vocals - Homewood
2nd place - Homewood
1st place - Oak Mountain
I don’t believe they were scored at all. I’m not entirely certain of how the scores were tabulated (whether it’s based on ranks or raw score), but I can find out some info from the contest director tomorrow. I do know that tomorrow is based on average score, and any time penalties are assessed off the average, not the raw total like it would be at other contests. Saturday is consensus ranking, and the time penalty is only assessed if it’s really egregious — the penalty being that a group drops in placement. That is the extent I know of scores and scoring at the moment.
-16 out of the 19 total competing groups have won at least once this season.
-9 out of the 19 total groups won their most recent competitions.
-4 of the mixed groups have a win streak of 3 or higher (Hastings with 3 wins in a row, Findlay and Homewood with 4 wins in a row, and Linn-Mar with 9 wins in a row). 3 of these streaks (or potentially all 4 of these streaks) will be ended this weekend.
-Of all the competing groups, North Central has won this competition the most recently (2018). They are also the only mixed group competing here that has placed outside of the top 5 this season (they placed 6th at their most recent competition). Indiana groups have been dominating at national competitions this year though, and North Central just might do the same here. Watch out for them.
North Central is a hard one. Indianapolis in general this year hasn't gone to national contests with Center Grove, Zionsville, and North Central this weekend being the only three. Carmel, Fishers, Brownsburg, Avon, and Franklin Central all stayed in the Midwest, with Carmel being the only one leaving Indiana.
The South has no wins against the Indianapolis choirs this season that I remember, but that may change this weekend. North Central isn't as strong as Center Grove and Zionsville, Homewood is arguably stronger than Petal and Brandon with Oak Mountain not far behind. Theoretically, this should be a more favorable matchup for the South, but North Central is just hard to predict. I am cautiously optimistic about the South's chances here.
Also of note, North Central has a very good slot on the schedule for prelims. Findlay does as well. That doesn't matter a lot, but it is much easier to place higher when you go at the end of the contest rather than the beginning.
I really wish we could have seen a Homewood vs. Brandon vs. Petal matchup this season to determine the #2 group in the South this year (and honestly it would have been interesting to see how close Homewood could have gotten to Clinton this year, especially in vocals). As of right now, I would put Homewood in that 2nd best in the South spot since they are the only undefeated large division Southern group left besides Clinton. And while I agree Homewood has a good chance of winning here, it will be very tough. The last time a Southern group won this competition was 2007. Homewood is very strong this year but I just have a gut feeling a Midwest group is going to win. We shall see!
I agree with Julio. Unless Homewood wins this comp, Brandon is sitting at #2 in the south for me.
Petal and Homewood have had an incredible season thus far, but Brandon is the only group out of the 3 to actually face Attaché this year (hence the blemish on their record). Petal faced their stiffest competition at Homewood's comp (which was one of the most competitive competitions in the south this year) and they swept, yet the other two comps they went to only shared 3 large mixed groups between them.
Homewood faced even less competition, only truly being threatened when they ran into Auburn earlier in the season...
Brandon has faced groups from several different states and swept - including their resounding take down of WWS. They lost to Attaché by a about 13 points if I remember correctly, and they managed to grab Choreography and Show Design over Center Grove, ATSC, and Mitchell among others.
Solid points. Brandon definitely had the most difficult season of anyone in the South. Not taking difficulty of competitions into consideration, Homewood would be #2 right now simply because they are still undefeated and Brandon and Petal are not. But based on how competitive each of their competitions were, Brandon and Petal would both be above Homewood. Like you said though, if Homewood wins here they should definitely sit at that #2 in the South spot.
After Nashville's competition, I would agree that Brandon is #2 in the south and maybe a top 10 group in the country now. I am very excited to see where both North Central amd Homewood place here!
I currently have Brandon ranked 10th in the country (in a long line of groups separated by half a point). However, I am missing some big name choirs right now, including Burbank, Johnston, Urbandale, and Ankeny Centennial, so I don't fully expect that ranking to hold after seeing those four groups. Brandon has only gotten stronger throughout the season, and I'm curious to see how that momentum translates into the next season.
It's true that Homewood wasn't really challenged at any of their regional contests, but is that caused by them being so good, or Auburn and Oak Mountain not being as strong? Tough to say, but I'm not sure that Homewood needs a win here to be #2 in the South. Yes, Brandon's resume is impressive this year - nobody can reasonably dispute that, but would the results have changed if they swapped schedules with Homewood? Probably not. Brandon would've been undefeated coming here, and Homewood would've kept it similarly close to Clinton and Center Grove - perhaps changing some captions here and there, but with the same point spread.
This is an interesting discussion. I feel as though Brandon is the stronger dancing group, but I do think Homewood is better vocally. It would depend on the scoresheet, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Homewood won a matchup of those two schools. Part of that is that I think this has been one of the stronger years for the South in general, at least for me. Petal, Homewood, Brandon, Grenada, Clinton are all excellent groups this year and that’s not even considering the other pretty consistent good to great groups.
I think I agree that it is a bit odd to discount Homewood as potentially being the 2nd best group in the South even without a win here - you could argue that this competition is as strong or even stronger than HOA Nashville and a top 3 result would be impressive for any group attending this weekend. If anything I think you could make an argument that a Homewood win here would slot them as the best group in the south.
Show Choir Nationals 2023
