Mustang dance earns first national championship berth

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Mount Mercy competitive dance team, fresh off a runner-up finish at Saturday's NAIA Southeast Regional, earned the program's first berth in the NAIA Competitive Dance National Championship when the 12-team field was announced on Sunday.

The 2019 championship roster includes four automatic qualifiers and eight at-large bids. At-large positions are awarded to the teams with the eight highest year-end scores that did not receive an automatic bid. Defending champion St. Ambrose returns with the host berth and as the Northeast Qualifier Champion.

The other automatic qualifiers are Grand View (Southeast Qualifier champion), Midland (Northwest Qualifier champion), and Oklahoma City (Southwest Qualifier champion). The at-large bids went to Aquinas, Baker, Doane, Loyola, Morningside, Mount Mercy, Point Park, and Siena Heights. Competition begins on Friday, March 8, with dance preliminaries at 6:45 p.m. at Lee Lohman Arena on the campus of St. Ambrose.

Mount Mercy's dance and cheer teams were at Saturday's NAIA Southeast Regional competition. There were nine dance teams, and the Mustangs outperformed them all with the exception of regional champion Grand View. The Vikings won it with an 88.11 total score. Mount Mercy was next at 85.90 and Baker third with a score of 85.39.

"This year's dance team came in with the motto 'Be better than you were yesterday' and they have lived up to that," said Head Coach Dax Cox. "To become a national qualifier in only our third year of competition is a tribute to our veteran student-athletes and a great freshman class that all pushed themselves to a new level of excellence."

"The dance team has worked so hard this year, both as individuals and as a team to push themselves to the next tier of competition," said Assistant Dance Coach Lainee Uitermarkt. "Their technique has been refined and improved, but most importantly, their confidence has been kicked into high gear. I hope the successful year we're having continues to grow this program and get more dancers to our amazing campus."

Saturday's regional competition also featured 12 competitive cheer squads, including regional champion Missouri Valley which finished with a total score of 84.83. Central Methodist placed second at 81.3 and Georgetown third with a score of 78.12. The Mount Mercy cheer team was ninth with a total score of 58.92.

"The cheerleaders had some tough luck at last week's Heart of America championships due to last-minute injuries and illness," said Cox. "Saturday we were looking for a bounce-back performance at regionals and got one. We hit a zero-deduction routine in the final performance and were very happy about that. Ending the season with our highest regional placement yet has made us hungry for next year."