Just before the competition began, hordes of people were scalping tickets to watch MSU's quarterfinal phase of the largest collegiate a cappella competition in the world.
The crowd that did make it past the ushers watched as Capital Green and the Accafellas, a cappella groups from MSU, became first runner-up and quarterfinal champions, respectively, for the MSU divisional round of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, or ICCA, on Saturday night at the Wharton Center.
The Accafellas and Capital Green will advance to the semifinals in Madison, Wis., on March 25 to compete against the top a cappella groups in the Midwest.
"This is the first time the Accafellas have ever won an ICCA quarterfinal, so we're just thrilled," said Luke Capizzo, president of the Accafellas. "We were making sure that all the guys would know what to do if this didn't happen because everyone else did such an amazing job tonight.
"You prepare the set, you prepare the music, but you never prepare for what happens afterward, so it's always nice to end on that kind of note."
Along with the Accafellas and Capital Green, who hosted the competition, MSU's Spartan Dischords and Ladies First, Alma College's Scots on the Rocks, Grand Valley State University's After School Special and Eastern Michigan University's sole a cappella group, No U-Turn, also competed on Saturday.
While all of the groups sang their hearts out, in the end the judges favored the Accafellas rendition of a Journey medley, which included "Don't Stop Believin'," "Faithfully," "Open Arms" and "Any Way You Want It"; "Sugar, We're Going Down," by Fall Out Boy; and "Hallelujah," from Disney's "Shrek."
Capital Green's winning songs were "Crush," by Gavin DeGraw; "Over My Head," by The Fray; and "Are You Happy Now?," by Michelle Branch.
"We're really excited to go to Wisconsin — I bet you can tell from us screaming on stage," said Andrea Kovac, president of Capital Green. "We have a lot of time, so we're going to look at the judges' comments and work on everything that they mentioned and hopefully have a strong showing in Wisconsin."
Although they will not be advancing to the semifinals, the Spartan Dischords were ranked second runner-up. Clad in white oxford shirts and matching pink ties, they won over the judges with their humorous choreography. They were presented with the Outstanding Choreography award.
"We are very excited. Coming from not ever being in this — coming for the first time —it was outstanding," Spartan Dischords member Andy Lange said. "I was so impressed with the Accafellas and Capital Green. I had a blast. I'm a senior, so it was definitely a great memorable moment."
Additional recognition was given to Justin Dixon of After School Special for Outstanding Vocal Percussion.
"It felt really good to receive the award knowing that people thought I had the most unique style and was the best (percussionist) overall. Nothing like that has ever happened to me," Dixon said.
The award for Outstanding Soloist was given to Jennifer Cook of Ladies First for the song "Somebody to Love."
"Jenny is amazing. She is a great soloist and a great performer," said Stacy Cox, president of Ladies First.
While Ladies First did not win, the competition was still enjoyable, Cox said.
"It was a lot of fun and really exciting. It was a little disappointing, but the groups who did win were very deserving of it," she said.
Every group had exactly 12 minutes to prove they were worthy of becoming the quarterfinal champs, Capizzo said. They were judged on vocal performance and visual presentation, he said.
Each of the three judges gave subjective rankings to the top three groups which added points to their total score, Kovac said.
But how a judge ranks a group is never set in stone, she added.
"When it comes down to it, we can't know how the judges are going to view our performance. We want to do our personal best, entertain the crowd, put on a great show and have something that can continue year after year at MSU," Kovac said.
Twenty-two quarterfinal competitions are held in six regions throughout the United States. The top two groups from each quarterfinal will advance to the semifinals of their region. The top group from each region will compete with the European region in New York City on April 29.
The winning group will be crowned the ICCA and will perform live on the "Today" show, Kovac said.
"(The finals) are something that Accafellas have never done, and I think it would be icing on the cake for us this year. It's not something that we're expecting, but it's another opportunity and another motivator for us to work that much harder," Capizzo said.
