It wasn’t Boots ‘n’ Cats’ first dance at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), but a new lineup and outlook on their performance secured near-complete domination at the quarterfinal round last weekend.

The group, which consists of seven members, took home first place and three other awards, missing only one to complete the sweep.

Emily Salisbury, senior vocal performance major, said the group was stunned when the competition’s MC announced Boots ‘n’ Cats won. She said the feeling was not so much due to their victory, but because of how well they actually performed.

The results “validated a lot of hard work over the last two years,” Salisbury said.

The awards for Outstanding Soloist, Outstanding Vocal Percussion and Outstanding Choreography, all of which Boots ‘n’ Cats took home, were announced before the top three. According to Salisbury, by the time 3rd and 2nd place were announced, they knew they had the top spot.

“We left everything on the stage when we performed, and every single one of us walked off the stage saying that there was not a single thing that they would have done differently,” Salisbury said, adding that this feeling was “even better than winning.”

Sarah Hemenway, senior vocal performance major, didn’t want to assume they won until they did.

“…The judges loved those individual aspects of our performance, why wouldn’t they love our performance overall?” Hemenway asked. “You wanna hope for the best, but you don’t want to anticipate.”

According to Salisbury, one of the key improvements from last year’s ICCA quarterfinal, where they placed 2nd, was their stage presence.

“We’re such a small group,” Salisbury said. “It’s hard for us to look big on stage.”

A year of experience, as well as adding junior vocal performance major Michael McCormick to the group, gave Boots ‘n’ Cats the edge they needed to take home the top prize.

McCormick “knows what stage presence is,” Hemenway said. “He knows what comes across to an audience and what doesn’t.”

Antonio Fernandez, senior music major, took home the award for best vocal percussionist for his work on the entire set. Part of the set included a 30-second beat boxing solo – a significant amount of time given the group is only given 12 minutes to perform.

“He is other-worldly,” Salisbury said. “We wanted to feature him as often as we could.”

Hemenway took home the award for best soloist, specifically for “I can’t make you love me” by Bonnie Raitt. The arrangement was done by her father, Gary Hemenway, with her vocal range and the group’s jazz background in mind.

Sarah Hemenway jumped at the chance to perform this solo, and she approached her dad for the arrangement. She felt like the song would be a perfect solo for her to personalize and relate back to her life.

“When I get out on stage, it’s not just a song that I’m gonna sing and hopefully it sounds good,” Hemenway said. “It’s also something that the audience can be like ‘oh my gosh, I totally know what she’s talking about.’”