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Carole Mikita ReportingThe venue: Lincoln Center in New York City. The event: an international collegiate singing competition. The winners: Vocal Point from BYU.
The members of Vocal Point say they were just thrilled to make it to the finals, but they came home with a world championship. Family and friends met them at the airport last night with cheers and signs.
They performed in New York last Saturday against regional finalists from the U.S., Canada and Western Europe. The BYU group won by the largest margin of victory in the competition, nearly 60 points.
The emcee introduced Vocal Point as 'the nicest bunch of guys you'll ever meet'.
Buck Mangum, Vocal Point Singer: "It was amazing. I just jumped out of my skin. Such an amazing feeling and the competition was really intense."
James Stevens, Vocal Point Director: "It's one of the only collegiate competitions in the world that is that prestigious, and so it's certainly something we put a lot of effort into."
The nine man a cappella group has won the right to perform in the finals twice before, but declined because the competitions were held on a Sunday. This year it was held on Saturday.
'Out of the Blue' from Oxford University in England took second place and 'The Other Guys' from the University of Illinois received third place honors.
