CRETE, Neb. – The competition seasons are underway for the Concordia University cheer and dance teams, who both competed on Sunday (Jan. 19) evening at the Doane Invitational in Crete, Neb. Dance placed second out of three teams while cheer placed out of four squads. The judges gave the Bulldogs scores of 58.05 in dance and 56.50 in cheer.
This marks the fourth season as head coach for Mandi Maser. Maser’s teams are captained by seniors Morgan Fritsch and Annie Pico and junior Lanessa Kerner in cheer and junior Kalina Schoenfeld in dance. Both squads are eying improvement in 2020 after they turned in 2019 GPAC placements of sixth in dance and seventh in cheer.
The Bulldogs now know what they need to work on moving forward. Said Maser, “On the dance side of things we did about how we expected to do. We achieved hitting the skills required by the scoresheet. We’re still working on the execution of those skills and trying to get them to perform at the highest level they possibly can together. They did a pretty good job.
“On the cheer side of things we did have a couple of mess-ups that we don’t normally. We didn’t complete one of the stunt sequences and then we came down on a pyramid. We had some deductions that we hope not to have in the future. We can work on that in practice and be ready on Wednesday and continue to build confidence.”
The cheer competition at Doane also included Midland (first place), Doane (second place) and Hastings (fourth place) while Doane (first place) and York College (third place) competed against Concordia in dance. Official scores can be viewed below.
A pair of events are also coming up this week. Bulldog dance will go head-to-head with Morningside at halftime (inside Walz Arena) of the home women’s basketball game on Wednesday. That performance will begin at roughly 6:30 p.m. CT. In addition, Concordia and Morningside will square off in a cheer competition (inside the PE Center Gym) at about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both Bulldog teams will also be headed to the Concordia Invitational Tournament in River Forest, Ill. A cheer and dance competition between the Concordias will take place at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday.
CIT is also one of the highlights of the season. Said Maser, “They love to go to CIT and they are very excited to be able to go to Chicago. We love having the pep band with us and being at the games. We’re looking forward to competing on Saturday. With dance, the scoresheets are a little bit different than what it normally is for us throughout the season. It should be a fun trip.”
Doane Invitational Results
CHEER
1. Midland - 81.25
2. Doane - 64.50
3. Concordia - 56.50
4. Hastings - 42.13
DANCE
1. Doane - 74.85
2. Concordia - 58.05
3. York - 35.60