YPSILANTI, Mich. – The opening day of the 7th Annual NAIA Competitive Dance National Championships saw 12 teams perform their preliminary routines Friday evening inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. It’s the second straight year the competition has been held in Ypsilanti, Mich. Teams that posted the highest scores on Day One will have the advantage of slotting in deeper into the competition order for Finals performances on Saturday.

Prelims Performance Highlights

• St. Ambrose (Iowa) was the only team to reach the 90’s plateau and leads the field after posting a Day One score of 91.40. The Bees are former two-time national champions (2018, 2021) and are looking to become the first school to win three national titles.
• Ten of the 12 teams competed on the national stage in 2022, and seven of the teams have qualified for all seven National Championships that have been held.
• Midland (Neb.) sits in second place with 86.23 points but has two teams less than a point behind them in Grand View (Iowa) with 85.63 points and defending 2022 champions Morningside (Iowa) with 85.30 points.
• Nine teams posted scores in the 80’s.
• Aquinas (Mich.), Morningside (Iowa), Concordia (Mich.) and Loyola (La.) did not receive any deductions.
• Concordia, the site hosts, were the only team to make their NAIA national competition debut on Friday.
• The teams will return for Day Two action starting at 10:00 a.m. EST.
• Entering the Finals, teams will have already recorded 25% of their combined total from Friday’s performance, while the rest of the score will be tallied from Saturday’s routine.

Finals Performance Order

1. Loyola (La.)

2. Concordia (Mich.)

3. Aquinas (Mich.)

4. Thomas More (Ky.)

5. Viterbo (Wis.)

6. Oklahoma City

7. Baker (Kan.)

8. Doane (Neb.)

9. Morningside (Iowa)

10. Grand View (Iowa)

11. Midland (Neb.)

12. St. Ambrose (Iowa)