SEWARD, Neb. – It doesn’t get much bigger than this when it comes to the size of cheer and dance competitions. Teams from 18 different NAIA institutions descended upon Friedrich Arena on Saturday (Feb. 11) for the Concordia Day of Duals. The Concordia University Competitive Cheer team went 1-1 in its two duals with a victory coming over Columbia College (Mo.) that followed a loss to Kansas Wesleyan University. The Bulldogs posted respective scores of 72.45 and 79.7 on the day. There were 14 separate cheer duals/triangulars that unfolded at the event.
Head Coach Mandi Maser’s squad was also in action on Friday at the York University Crown Classic, where it placed fourth out of 15 teams. The best score of the weekend was Concordia’s 82.03 at York, a school record.
“It was a very competitive field with tough competition,” Maser said. “Our teams did a great job representing our university really well. We want to keep increasing the difficulty on the cheer side of things and keep striving for higher scores. They continue to improve and become better performers each competition. They just need to continue keeping their confidence up and believing in themselves that they’re going to do what they’ve done in practice and translate it to the competition floor.”
In the first dual matchup for the Bulldogs, Kansas Wesleyan put forth a score of 77.55 in earning the win. The next dual resulted in a comfortable victory for Concordia as its 79.7 distanced it from the 46.4 earned by Columbia. An overall fruitful weekend for the Bulldogs saw them notch the two highest single performance scores in the history of the program. The competition roster for the weekend is included below.
Concordia competition roster
· LaCole Anno (Lincoln, Neb.)
· Brenden Ingram (Kearney, Neb.)
· Lexi Mack (Wilber, Neb.)
· Ara Maxwell (Lincoln, Neb.)
· Victoria Perry (Shelby, Neb.)
· Sabrina Reed (Crete, Neb.)
· Bre Romero (Elmwood, Neb.)
· Elizabeth Schultz (Seward, Neb.)
· Lauryn Stanley (Big Spring, Neb.)
· Shelby Timmerman (Clatonia, Neb.)
· Katie Wilson (Cozad, Neb.)
Just before score announcements were made at the Concordia Day of Duals. The Bulldogs recognized a senior class that includes Katie Birtell, Madi Koch and Lizbeth Vargas-Tapia for dance and Brenden Ingram, Sabrina Reed and Kathryn Taylor for cheer.
2023 Competition Scores/Results
1/19 – 77.2 (dual vs. Morningside)
1/25 – 74.25 (dual vs. Hastings)
1/28 – 2nd place (CIT)
2/3 – 70.60 (3rd place at Doane Invite)
2/10 – 82.03 (4th place at York Crown Classic)
2/11 – 72.45 / 79.7 (duals vs. Kansas Wesleyan/Columbia)
Up next will on the schedule is next Saturday (Feb. 18)’s Dordt Cheer and Dance Invite to be held in Sioux Center, Iowa. That competition will be the final outing for the Bulldogs prior to the GPAC Cheer & Dance Championships/NAIA Regional Qualifier hosted by Doane on Feb. 24-25.