Eight Bulldog dance athletes named NAIA Scholar-Athletes

By Jacob Knabel on Mar. 8, 2023 in Dance

2023 NAIA Competitive Dance Scholar-Athletes

SEWARD, Neb. – Only two programs in the nation landed more student-athletes on the 2022-23 list of NAIA competitive dance Scholar-Athletes than the Concordia University Competitive Dance program. As announced by the NAIA on Wednesday (March 8), eight Bulldogs garnered Scholar-Athlete recognition. It’s another sign of the special nature of the 2022-23 season for Head Coach Mandi Maser’s program. On the dance floor, Concordia ranked 12th nationally in terms of average competition score.

The 2023 list of competitive dance honorees includes student-athletes from 48 institutions. In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, must appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport and have attended one full year at said institution.

The complete list of Concordia honorees can be found below. Repeat award winners include Katie Birtell, Kenna Holtzen, Madi Koch, Avery Lewis and Stephanie Mashuga.

Concordia University ranks as the NAIA’s all-time leader in number of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes with 2,121 entering the 2022-23 academic year. The school record for number of Scholar-Athletes in one academic year is 226 achieved in 2019-20. Concordia has been a regular national leader for both Scholar-Athletes and Scholar-Teams.

2023 Competitive Dance NAIA Scholar-Athletes

·        Aubrey Baumann (Chester, S.D.)

·        Katie Birtell (Columbus, Neb.)

·        Kenna Holtzen (Stromsburg, Neb.)

·        Madi Koch (Doniphan, Neb.)

·        Avery Lewis (Seward, Neb.)

·        Stephanie Mashuga (Gibbon, Minn.)

·        Seanna Patterson (Lincoln, Neb.)

·        Katheryn Rice (Bellevue, Neb.)