CRETE, Neb. – Midland University’s dance team finished in second place at the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Competitive Dance Championship on Friday. The Warriors compiled a score of 89.38, finishing at the runner-up in both the conference championship and the NAIA Northwest Group Qualifier.
The Warriors scored an 88.33 in their prelim routine, edging Morningside College (88.27) by a mere .06. In the finals, Midland improved their score to 89.73 but the Mustangs had a bigger jump, scoring 91.80.
Final scores were comprised of the two routines with the final round accounting for 75% of the score. Morningside’s final total of 90.92 helped them retain the GPAC title for the second year by just 0.54 points over Midland whose final score equaled 89.38.
Doane finished third (74.88) in the conference standings followed by Concordia (74.76), Dordt (69.30), Hastings (66.95), College of Saint Mary (66.70), Northwestern (64.18), and Mount Marty (50.64). Viterbo, who was competing in the NAIA Qualifier only, finished third (76.45) in between Midland and Doane.
“The dancers took the floor on Friday with their strongest performances of the season,” said head coach Katie Speicher. “After ranking first after the preliminary round, we went into finals with confidence and determination, but unfortunately didn’t score high enough in the last round to claim the GPAC Championship and National Qualifier titles. It’s definitely disappointing to not receive the automatic bid to Nationals, but I am so proud of the team’s performances on Friday.”
With Midland’s second-place win, they will have to wait and see if they receive an automatic berth to the NAIA National Dance Championship. Most likely the Warriors will earn one of the seven at-large bids given to the teams with the highest average scores from the year that didn’t receive an auto-bid. The NAIA National Championships will be hosted by St. Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa on March 12-13, 2021.
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