Ten high schools competed in the 22nd annual Tri-State Show Choir Competition before a near-sellout crowd Saturday at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts on the campus of Shawnee State University.

Competing in the six-hour event were five Class A high schools (those with more than 1,000 students in grades 10-12) and five Class B students (those with fewer than 1,000).

Only two of the 10 schools were from the local area — Portsmouth and South Webster, both in Class B category.

The other three Class B schools were Herbert Hoover of Clendenin, W.Va.; St. Clairsville from the town of that name in Ohio; and Ravenswood from the town of that name in West Virginia.

Names of the winners were not available at the Times’ deadline.

There were Broadway songs, songs of the ‘70s, songs of hate, love, joy and war.

The five Class A school competing were Riverside of Belle, W.Va.; Cabell Midland of Ona, W.Va.; Twinsburg of the town of than name in Ohio; Hurricane of the town of than name in West Virginia; and Colerain of Cincinnati.

South Webster, directed by Rhonda Mays and choreographed by Shane Coe, featured 32 singers and dancers and four instrumentalists,

Portsmouth’s group had 36 singers and dancers. It was directed by Sally Gower, who is director of all vocal music programs at the 725-student school. The choreographer is Shawn Eck, the accompanist is Mike Penley and the instrumental director is Shawn Brehm.

The rules of the competition called for the director of each group to to be a music educator at that school.

Each choir was allotted 25 minutes on stage.

First- and second-place trophies were awarded to winners in each of the two school size categories. Portsmouth was the host school and not eligible to win.

G. SAM PIATT can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236, or spiatt@heartlandpublications.com.