Dance team places third at NAIA nationals

The Baker University dance team placed third at the NAIA National Invitational Championships in Oklahoma City Friday and Saturday.

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The third-place finish comes after the Wildcats won back-to-back national titles in the small dance category in 2011 and 2012.

After a change in format and going from being partnered with both the National Cheerleaders Association and National Dance Association, the NAIA hosted its own competition March 14-15 as a way to distinguish cheer and dance as a more competitive sport.

“How it was before is very different than how it is now,” head coach Lynsey Payne said in an earlier interview. “When we won before, and this is what the NAIA is trying to get away from, you just go to nationals and just show up and you win.”

BU was in second place after preliminaries on Friday but ultimately finished third with 106.95 points behind Oklahoma City and Grand View, just 3.13 points out of first.