Linn-Mar's "10th St. Edition" takes GC at Urbandale against the best Iowa Show Choirs!!

On Saturday, February 9th, 2 - 9th Grade Groups, 5 - Women's Division Groups, 6 - Prep Division Groups, and 7 - Varsity/Open Division Groups traveled to Urbandale to compete in the longest running show choir competition in the state of Iowa!!! The day started off with the 2 9th Grade Division Competitors. After that, the Women's Division, competitors took their turn competing. Starting at 11:05am, the Prep Division started performing!! After lunch, there were two Prep Division groups that still needed to perform and then the Open Class started competing.

Last year's Grand Champion, Johnston "Innovation," finished out the Open Class with a great performance. After they performed, the host choir, Urbandale "Studio 2019" showed off their boat-themed show to their audience.

Going into daytime awards, the top placements in each class were given. They go as follows:
9TH GRADE RESULTS
1st - Johnston "Sound Advice"
2nd - Waukee Prairieview "Velocity"

WOMENS CLASS RESULTS
1st - Waukee "Nova" (Best Soloist - Aubrey Duenas)
2nd - Linn-Mar "Hi Style"
3rd - Ankeny Cent. "Rhythmic Momentum"

MIXED PREP RESULTS
1st - Ankeny Cent. "Eternal Rush" (BV/BC)
2nd - Johnston "Synergy" (BB, Best Soloist - Emma Eradoes)
3rd - Linn-Mar "In Step" (Best Crew)

OPEN CLASS DAYTIME
1st - Linn-Mar "10th Street Edition"
2nd - Johnston "Innovation" (BB, Best Soloist - Morgan Wolfe)
3rd - Waukee "Millennium"
4th - Ankeny Cent. "Spectrum"
(Best Soloist - Jayla Lee - Decatur "Elite Energy")

The top top five groups in the Open Division as well as the two top Prep Groups advanced to finals. Ankeny Centennial and Johnston both had a Varsity Choir and Prep Choir respresented in finals. The 5th Place finisher in the Open Class (Mitchell "Friend de Coup") also advanced to finals.

The directors chose the finals performance order based on the daytime placements. The finals performance order was as follows:
Ankeny Centennial "Eternal Rush"
Johnston "Synergy"
Mitchell "Friend de Coup"
Ankeny Centennial "Spectrum"
Waukee "Millennium"
Johnston "Innovation"
Linn-Mar "10th St. Edition"

The finals performances were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! The kids brought all the energy to the stage they needed. Coming in to final awards, there was not a trophy for 6th Runner-Up, so they planned to order one and deliver it to Ankeny Centennial's "Eternal Rush." 5th Runner-Up was selected to go to Johnston's "Synergy." 4th Runner-Up was given to Mitchell's "Friend de Coup." 3rd Runner-Up was awarded to Ankeny Centennial's "Spectrum." Waukee "Millennium" cam in with 2nd Runner-Up. Now, it comes down to the top two, Johnston and Linn-Mar. The emcee now announced Best Vocals, which was awarded to Johnston's "Innovation," and Best Choreography was given to "10th St. Edition." The audience couldn't even guess at this point what the outcome was going to be. As soon as they announced Johnston's "Innovation" as 1st Runner-Up, "10th St. Edition" knew they had one it again. Final Awards were as follows:
GC - Linn-Mar "10th Street Edition" (BC)
1RU - Johnston "Innovation" (BB/BV)
2RU - Waukee "Millennium
3RU - Ankeny Cent. Spectrum"
4RU - Mitchell "Friend de Coup"
5RU - Johnston "Synergy"
6RU - Ankeny Cent. "Eternal Rush"

The final awards were a nail biter for me. I had my predictions, and let me just say, they went nothing as planned. I am not going to discuss my predictions, but this line-up was insane already.

This event was sure one for the history books and one that people will be talking about for years to come. For many of the choirs that competed, there were firsts in their groups. I am going to highlight some of these now:

Eternal Rush - this is the first time that Eternal Rush has made finals at Urbandale, and for that instance, this is the first time since 2015 that a Prep group has made finals.

Synergy - this is also the first time that Synergy has made finals at Urbandale. Synergy also passed Eternal Rush for the first time in history. Eternal Rush has came out on top several times, but Synergy is turning that around.

Spectrum - this is the first time in school history for Spectrum that they have not finished in the top 3. What an amazing streak. Last year, Spectrum took their first 3rd Place finish at Urbandale, and now they set another record of placing 4th at Urbandale this year.

Innovation - This is the first time since "10th Street Edition" has been under Trent Buglewicz, that Innovation has lost to Linn-Mar. What a great streak. "Innovation" and "10th St. Edition" usually meet at Davenport.

10th Street Edition - This is the 2nd time in history that Linn-Mar has competed at Urbandale. The last time they competed at Urbandale was in 2006 when they earned 5th Runner-Up. 2019 was the first time that "10th Street Edition" took Urbandale's Grand Champion. Also, "10th Street Edition," under the direction of Trent Buglewicz, has never finished ahead of "Innovation," which they broke this year.

"10th St. Edition" has earned 1 Grand Champion sweep this year, and that was at Prairie's "Premiere." They finished 1st Runner-Up at Ankeny Centennial's "Mid-Iowa Show Choir Championships." They have now earned Best Choreography at every competition they have competed at this year. Next weekend, February 16th, they travel to Davenport, only to compete against Johnston's "Innovation" again. I have a feeling that Davenport is going to be a comp of the week because of this match-up.

I will bring you the results from Davenport next week and I can't wait to see another match-up, only one week apart.

CONGRATULATIONS LINN-MAR ON A WELL-DESERVED GRAND CHAMPION!! What an amazing show, you guys are amazing!!