Morningside’s cheer and dance teams each had third place finishes at the NAIA Northwest Qualifying Group Tournament.

Midland University triumphed in both the cheer and dance divisions at Saturday’s NAIA Competitive Cheer & Dance Northwest Qualifying Group Tournament at Morningside College to advance to the 2018 NAIA Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships on March 9 and 10 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Midland, the reigning NAIA National Champion in competitive dance and the 2018 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) champion in both competitive cheer and dance, edged Point Park University to win both titles at Saturday’s Northwest Qualifying Group Tournament.

The Warriors had a score of 69.79 to win the nine-team competitive cheer division by a slim margin over runner-up Point Park (68.67). Midland reigned over the 10-team competitive dance competition with a score of 78.55, followed by Point Park at 75.13.

Host Morningside finished third in both the cheer and dance divisions with scores of 64.19 and 73.07, respectively. The Mustangs finished sixth in the competitive dance division at last year’s first-ever NAIA Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships.

The four cheer and dance champions from each of the NAIA’s four regional qualifying tourneys earn automatic berths in the 2018 NAIA Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships. The remaining eight spots in both the cheer and dance divisions for the national championship event will be at-large selections based on scores from the regular season and the qualifying group tournaments.

Results