The Huskie Hunks are preparing to compete at their first a cappella competition as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella approaches.

The quarterfinals for the competition will be held at DeKalb High School, 501 W. Dresser Road; the semifinals will be held at ISU and the finals will be held in New York, said Trent Snyder, Huskie Hunks president and junior music education major.

Dates for the competition have yet to be announced but will be posted on the group’s Facebook page at on.fb.me/1aCipI7.

“We preformed concerts and stuff, but this [is] our first competition where we’ll be judged,” Snyder said.

Snyder said the Huskie Hunks started three years ago and have been preforming concerts and at events around campus.

“Huskie Hunks started from Trent and Will [Kirby], who went to Glenbrook South, which has an all-male a cappella called [NINE],” said Cory Ellis, Huskie Hunks music director and junior music education major. “They came here and wanted NIU to have a similar group,”

The group must have three songs that are choreographed with transitions between the songs for the competition.

“We haven’t picked the songs yet…,” Ellis said. “We [have] to figure out three songs that can go together, but also have some original songs that nobody or not a lot of people at the competition are doing.”

The group practices three times a week for two hours and holds open auditions at the beginning of every year. Five of the 10 original Huskie Hunks are still a part of the group.

“My favorite memory was getting in after I auditioned,” said Dustin King, Huskie Hunks member and freshman business major. “There [were] ‘callbacks.’ I was with a group and they gave us very complex sheet music to look over. Then we tried to sing it, but honestly we sounded terrible. But it was more to just mess with us — at the end, the members all held up signs [that said] ‘Welcome to Huskie Hunks.’”

The Huskie Hunks will perform at the dance marathon at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Recreation Center.