The Mandarins made a sweet impression on the judges this weekend at a Baltimore competition.

Syracuse University’s all-female a cappella group won first place in the Mid-Atlantic region quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Feb. 28 at Goucher College in Baltimore.

‘We were definitely on that night,’ said Rachel Roy, co-director of the group and junior voice performance major. ‘When we came offstage, everyone was like, ‘Wow, I had so much fun.’ We didn’t care about winning – we just wanted the crowd to have a good time.’

Roy also won the Best Arrangement award for her arrangement of ‘That Thing You Do,’ which featured a segment of the popular song, ‘Milkshake’ by Kelis.

Also, GrooveStand, SU’s mixed a cappella group, won first place in the New England region quarterfinals Feb. 21 at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

‘We were totally the underdogs,’ said Dennis Padula, member of GrooveStand and senior music industry major. ‘I felt so honored because the other groups were so superb.’

Roy, Padula and Mandy Breitenbach, a graduate student, won awards for Outstanding Soloist. Senior Matt Decker of GrooveStand also won the award for Outstanding Vocal Percussion.

Every group was required to perform within 12 minutes, and the Mandarins selected the Beatles’ ‘Help,’ India Arie’s ‘Ready for Love,’ and ‘That Thing You Do.’

The competition organizes the country into six regions, which each send the first and second-place winners from three smaller contests to the semi-finals. The Mandarins will compete in their region’s semi-final March 13 at Cornell University, while GrooveStand hits the road again to perform March 5 at the New England region semi-finals at the University of Vermont.

The first place winners from each semi-finals will advance to the finals in New York City, Roy said.

‘We’re going to try to recapture what happened last time,’ Roy said. ‘I don’t know if we’re capable of doing that, but we’re gonna try.’

If the Mandarins and GrooveStand both win first place in their respective semi-finals, they could compete against each other in the finals.

But Padula said the success of the groups should bring positive attention to the a cappella scene at SU.

‘The school doesn’t appreciate a cappella enough,’ Padula said. ‘There’s a lot of talent at this school, and it’s so important that the school support it.’

The Mandarins sent their application and audition CD in October to Varsity Vocals, the organization that sponsors the competition, said Melissa Rashford, co-director of the group and senior music industry major.

Only 18 schools were selected from a pool of more than 40 other collegiate a cappella groups for the quarterfinal competition, Roy said.

‘I’m still kind of in shock that we got this far,’ Rashford said. ‘But it all came together when it mattered the most.’

The group, which formed in 1996 and has competed since 2002, also won the second place award in last year’s quarterfinal competition, Rashford said.

Because six of the 13 members will graduate this spring, some members of the group worry that next year’s competition will not end on such a high note.

‘It’s hard to say that we can ever be back to this level again,’ Rashford said. ‘We’re losing vital members of the group, but so are the members that are still here. I think they’ll be able to keep the tradition going.’

Published on March 1, 2004 at 12:00 pm