Boots 'n' Cats headed back to LA after winning quarterfinals

The seven CWU students who make up Boots ‘n’ Cats are headed back to LA to compete in the next round of the Varsity Vocals International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella (ICCA).

The singing group took first place at Saturday’s ICCA regionals at Western Washington University, advancing them to the semifinals in March. They competed against nine other groups from the region, including Nada Cantata and Fantastic Forte, both from CWU.

Boots ‘n’ Cats is made up of Antonio Fernandez (vocal percussion/bass), Michael McCormick (bass), Ben Lundgren (baritone/tenor), Aryn Chatterton (tenor/alto), Nicole Prigge (alto), Emily Salisbury (soprano/rap) and Sarah Hemenway (soprano).

“We are the first CWU a cappella group to take first and come home with three specialty awards,” Prigge said.

Boots ‘n’ Cats won three of four special awards, including best choreography, best vocal percussion (Fernandez), and best soloist (Hemenway).

The top two groups from each quarterfinal compete in the semifinals on March 28 at Pomona College. The winners will advance to nationals on April 18 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

This is the group’s second year of competition and second time earning a spot on the LA stage. In 2014, Boots ‘n’ Cats advanced to the semifinals after placing second at regionals.

ICCA, owned and operated by Varsity Vocals, is the largest a cappella tournament in the world. In the semifinal and final competitions, five judges individually critique the performances in the categories of vocal performance, visual performance, and subjective rank. Groups have 12 minutes to perform and are penalized if they exceed the limit.

Photo from left: Nicole Prigge, Antonio Fernandez, Emily Salisbury, Michael McCormick, Aryn Chatterton, Ben Lundgren, and Sarah Hemenway.

January 26, 2015