Ninth St. Singers make finals at Grand Island

Chase County Schools’ 9th St. Singers traveled to Grand Island Saturday to compete at the Grand Island Islander Invitational.
The group’s preliminary score earned them a spot in the finals round, where they placed fifth among much bigger schools.
There were two middle school and nine high school choirs that performed.
“The top four groups consisted of 43 to 70 members,” 9th St. Singers Director Jill Bauerle said.
“Their shows were amazing, with 7-17 member backup bands, costume changes and enough singers to fill the stage,” she said.
But Bauerle was pleased with her group’s performance.
“Our goal going into finals was to improve our show, and that’s what we did,” she said.
“I was really proud of them. It’s not easy being the underdog, and these singers owned the stage with beautiful vocals, in sync dancing and teamwork,” Bauerle added.
She also praised the work of 9th St. Singers’ accompanists Rob Browning on piano and Dirk Greene on drums.
Final placings Saturday included.
1, Northwest High School Varsity Show Choir; 2, Hastings High School; 3, Bellevue High School, Varsity Show Choir; 4, Northwest High School, Prep Show Choir; 5, Chase County Schools, 9th St. Singers; 6, Grand Island Central Catholic; 7, Central City High School; 8, Omaha North Explosion; 9, Bellevue East Prep.
The 9th St. Singers also competed at Harvard Wednesday this week.
“Hopefully we can have a public performance between Harvard and SPVA,” Bauerle said.
The SPVA contest is scheduled for March 24 in Hershey.