SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University’s cheer and dance squads both landed four team members on the list of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes released recently the NAIA. The names of honorees from head coach Mandi Maser’s programs are listed at the bottom. It includes seniors Taylor Brockhaus and Kathie Nguyen as well as six juniors.
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 and must have achieved a junior academic status. A total of 86 cheer and 58 dance student-athletes across the nation were named 2017-18 Scholar-Athletes by the NAIA.
Concordia University ranks as the NAIA’s all-time leader in number of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes with 1,326 and counting. The Bulldogs have been a regular national leader for both scholar-athletes and scholar-teams and are coming off a 2016-17 academic year that resulted in 78 more scholar-athletes and 19 scholar-teams. The 2015-16 season produced a GPAC best 92 Bulldog scholar-athletes and a national best 20 NAIA Scholar-Teams. The 2014-15 season culminated with GPAC-leading totals of 94 Bulldog scholar-athletes and 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams. During the 2013-14 academic year, Concordia garnered 101 Scholar-Athlete honorees (most in the NAIA) and 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams (tied for fourth nationally).
2018 Concordia cheer and dance Scholar-Athletes
Taylor Brockhaus, Sr. (Lincoln, Neb.)
Kennedy Garner, Jr. (Ashland, Neb.)
Taeva Hoppe, Jr. (Milford, Neb.)
Neleigh Lehr, Jr. (Duncan, Neb.)
Kathie Nguyen, Sr. (Grand Island, Neb.)
Sarah Rogge, Jr. (Milford, Neb.)
Chelsea Willard, Jr. (Ashland, Neb.)
Victoria Woodburn, Jr. (York, Neb.)