NAIA Release
The Aquinas dance team was selected as one of five at-large teams to go to the 2023 NAIA Competitive Dance National Championship on Monday afternoon (Feb. 27). The Saints will make their seventh appearance on the national stage against 11 other teams from across the country.
This year's field of teams featured six automatic qualifiers from each of the regional competition winners, five at-large bids and a spot for Concordia as hosts. The automatic qualifiers were: Baker (Kan.) out of the Midwest grouping, Doane (Neb.) from the Northwest, Loyola (La.) from the Southeast, Oklahoma City from the Southwest, St. Ambrose from the Northeast and Thomas More (Ky.) from the Central.
The Saints finished runner-up in the Northeast grouping against St. Ambrose this past Friday (Feb. 24) with the competition being held at Aquinas College for the first time.
Aong with AQ, the four other at-large teams selected for nationals were Grand View (Iowa), Midland (Neb.), Morningside (Iowa) and Viterbo (Wisc.).
"We are thrilled to have earned an at-large bid to nationals this season," said AQ dance head coach
Ashley Kaman, the four-time WHAC Coach of the Year. "The NAIA field is tougher each year, but our team has pushed through adversity, challenged themselves to get better, and achieved big goals to earn their spot. I'm so proud of their accomplishments so far, and we can't wait to represent AQ and the WHAC on the nationals stage."
The Saints completed a perfect regular season this year by winning the Marian Invitational, both Saints Showdown competitions and lastly a virtual competition between Vanguard (Calif.) and Pikeville. AQ then went to Madonna and won the WHAC Championships for a fourth straight time and picked up a handful of conference accolades in the process.
Not only did Kaman claim another conference Coach of the Year award, her team was also recognized for having the WHAC Dancer of the Year (
Emma Daling), three All-WHAC First Team selections (Daling,
Margaret Christian and
Lauren Shippy) and a pair of All-WHAC Second Team selections (
Allison Kaatz and
Alana Calhoun).
At the NAIA Northeast Regional held this past weekend, Aquinas took second out 10 teams to help solidify its resume as an at-large team.
Seven out of the 12 teams at this year's nationals have competed at every NAIA national competition that has been held since it began in 2017. While this is the seventh annual competition, only six competitions have been completed with COVID-19 canceling the 2020 edition. Morningside are the defending champions.
AQ's best finish at nationals was second in the first edition held in 2017 at Oklahoma City.
Concordia will host this year's edition at Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, Mich., for a second straight season. A preliminary performance round will be held on March 10 with the final round taking place on March 11. The order of the preliminary round will be announced on March 1.
