When the first runner up of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals was announced last Saturday, Shriver Hall exploded into thunderous applause for the home team.
The all-male Hopkins AllNighters, participants at the competition hosted by the Octopodes, will advance to the semifinal show as first runner up, which will take place on Friday at Rutgers University. Sophomore Michael Fellows also won the individual Outstanding Vocal Percussion award and sophomore Adam Reiffen won second place for Outstanding Choreography.
Amongst the eight competitors, the second runner up in the competition was The College of New Jersey's Trentones, while Lehigh University's Melismatics won the title of Quarterfinal champion.
Semifinal champions will proceed to the International Finals in New York City for a chance to win cash prizes. The AllNighters is in the Mid-Atlantic region, which contains 30 a cappella groups in the ICCA, representing groups in the U.S. and Europe.
"I think the best part was actually getting to see the AllNighters perform and advance. I think it was especially great because they had their student body basically cheering them on," Octopodes Business Manager Alex Bourlas said.
Members of the AllNighters were especially excited by their placement.
"It feels really great," Reiffen, the AllNighters' performance director, said. "We did put a lot of work in so it's nice to know we have a payoff."
Between now and the next competition, the team plans to continue practicing in what Reiffen described as an "a cappella refractory period."
"I feel so accomplished. It's great to know that our five hours a week of practice are paying off," freshman Brigette Cohan from Lehigh University said.
In order to prepare for the Semi-Finals, they will continue to rehearse for three hours every Monday and two hours on Thursdays.
"The most important thing to remember for the next round is that we should look like we're having fun, because we are," Lehigh sophomore Alex Murphy said.
After the announcement of their win, the Melismatics performed an encore of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." The crowd enjoyed the finale, as they were able to clap to the beat and sing along, something that was banned during the actual competition.
The Hopkins Octopodes hosted the event, an undertaking that cost about $5,500, which explains why the audience had to pay for tickets. Bourlas estimates that the Octopodes made a profit of around $1,500.
"The money is going towards, first and foremost, the cost of actually having the rights to put on this competition at our school," Bourlas said.
"The rest will be going to the Octopodes in order to put out a new CD, which cost around $6,000 to produce."
"It was definitely an exhausting experience but it was 100 percent worth it. I think the audience really enjoyed it. I think it was a great thing for us to do, for the group, as a group - and basically we were in charge of everything, so it was a good experience," Bourlas said.
The Octopodes were also assisted by Varsity Vocals, the group that is running the ICCA competition and screened the applicants.
"They hire the judges, they make sure everyone gets their arrangements in; they basically inform all the groups where to go," Bourlas said.
The Octopodes still had their share of responsibility in hosting the event.
"We did all the advertising and advance ticket sales and ticket sales. We got the volunteers to help us out as ushers and we helped with guest groups if they needed accommodations," Bourlas said.
In addition to the group awards, the judges also gave four specialty awards to participants. The awards recognized Outstanding Choreography, Outstanding Arrangement, Outstanding Vocal Percussion and Outstanding Soloist, with the AllNighters' beatboxer winning the Vocal Percussion award.
The competitors in the ICCA tournament included the AllNighters, the Melismatics, the Trentones, Loyola Belles, Rochester Institute of Technology Eight Beat Measure, Syracuse University Orange Appeal, Polytechnic Institute Partial Credit Rensselaer and the University of Delaware Vocal Point.
