Yes sir! Continuing our themed show style from last year, our theme (or story if you will) this year is Dick Tracy, the comic book strip that originated from the 1930's that eventually had a movie made after it. We're doing a story loosely based off the comic strip about Tracy's crime fighting adventures against the villains of New York City and his love interest, Tess Trueheart, while still maintaining a comic book atmosphere and style to it.
First, I choose Cedar Rapids Prairie as my GC pick solely on the assumption that they’ll give us something to the equivalent of last year. Last year, they were very GC sweep quality, so I am expecting the same this year. I heard about the comic theme, it could be a flop or success. We’ll just have to see.
This competition should be interesting based on last year's results seeing as Prairie beat Totino-Grace and Iowa City West, Iowa City West beat Xavier, and Xavier beat Prairie
GC: Cedar Rapids Prairie (BV, BC, BB)
1RU: Iowa City West
2RU: Totino-Grace
3RU: Sioux City East
4RU: Cedar Rapids Xavier
5RU: West Des Moines Valley
This is a VERY difficult competition to make predictions. Overall, these predictions are going to include a lot of assumptions, but I’ll elaborate on those when I get to them. Not only are all of these groups solid, but they’re all at about the same level. First, I choose Cedar Rapids Prairie as my GC pick solely on the assumption that they’ll give us something to the equivalent of last year. Last year, they were very GC sweep quality, so I am expecting the same this year. I heard about the comic theme, it could be a flop or success. We’ll just have to see. Next, Iowa City West gets 1RU. I’m not really making any assumptions here, but I choose this because of how they did last year. Their ranks were alright, but the competitions they went to don’t really help me out in comparing them to the groups attending. Sure, they beat Valley and Xavier last year, but I can’t read a lot from that. I believe they’ll be great, so they’ll place greatly as well. The assumption I make when putting Totino-Grace third, is that Totino’s program decline is not as extreme as it’s made out to be. Many individuals of the SCC were critical of TG last year and stated that their program is on a decline. I’m going to assume there has been a decline, but it isn’t extreme so I’ll rank them high but not as high as habitual GC groups as Cedar Rapids Prairie. Sioux City East gets 3RU to me. I saw their show last year, so the justification I provide is that last year was a very weird year for SCE. Their show was very “out there” in terms of how “normal” show choir is. I’m sure judges were very critical of somewhat risqué choreography. Yes, I said it, their show was just a tad too “sexy?” for a Midwest mom like me, so that’s where I’d pin their problem at. SCE has habitually had powerhouse vocals and choreo, so that’s what I’m expecting to see on Saturday (Yes I’m making the long drive from Minneapolis). To further predict for SCE, I’d say their show will be very traditional as their risqué show didn’t work out for them. Furthermore, I’ll Xavier 4RU solely under the assumption the other groups attending are similar to Johnston’s “Innovation”. I’m sure it’ll be close and if anyone could surprise me and win it all, it’d be Xavier. Lastly, I have WDM Valley. I’m never really in awe of Choralation’s vocals or choreo. They’re always really solid, but just that. I’d love to be blown away. Overall, it looks like a really even line up that could go any way!
Dr. Heath Weber – Morningside College - Sioux City, IA
Tom Gerking – Westwood HS - Sloan, IA
Doran Johnson – Westside HS – Omaha, NE
Tatum Mahlen – Hastings HS – Hastings, MN
Anne Chapman – Fort Madison, IA
Mike Esser – LaCrosse Central HS – LaCrosse, WI
QUOTE (juliofrommississippi @ Dec 19 2013, 04:50 AM)
I have to say this is probably the most even Starstruck ever. Any group has a chance to win this one!!!
I agree. For a lot of these groups it's their first competition of the season, ours included. With that being said, it's hard to predict where they stand in the new season compared to other groups. I guess it comes down to who is the most prepared for the new season and who's ready to bring it. I could see this going a lot of different ways.
PREP
8:25 - Johnston, Sound Advice
8:50 - Indianola, Side Wayz
9:15 - Sioux City East, Impulse
9:40 - SE Polk, Vocal Gold
10:05 - Xavier, Xuberance
10:40 - Indianola, Flip Side
11:05 - Sioux City East, New Sound
11:30 - Iowa City West, Showtime
11:55 - WDM Valley, Ignition
12:20 - CR Prairie, Focal Point
VARSITY
1:25 - SE Polk, RAMification
1:50 - Norwalk, Sound Revolution
2:15 - WDM Valley, Choralation
2:40 - Sioux City East, Headliners
3:05 - Xavier, Xhilaration
3:45 - CR Prairie, The Ambassadors
4:10 - Indianola, Side One
4:35 - Totino Grace, Company of Singers
5:00 - Iowa City West, Good Time Company
5:25 - Waukee, Millennium (Exhibition)