Dancing into golden weekend
Photo by Emilee Fails
The competitive dance team competes at the inaugural Pioneer Showcase at Gateway High School last month. This past weekend, the Pioneer Cheer and Dance Teams competed in Sienna Heights. Both teams walked away victorious and the cheer team scored a season high 79.33 while dueling Siena Heights.
February 12, 2019
The cheer and dance teams served routines nothing short of spectacular following a weekend at the Siena Heights Saints Spectacular and the University of Saint Francis Invitational.
Both teams competed at the Saints Spectacular on Feb. 10, in Adrian, Mich. The cheer squad participated in a dual matchup against host Siena Heights as well as the full competition against four other universities.
Against Siena Heights, Point Park finished with its highest score of the season, 79.33, which topped the Saints at 62.75, by nearly 20 points. After the full invitational, Point Park remained at the top of the pack with a score of 76.22. The Pioneers suffered zero deductions in both performances.
The next closest score and No. 2 spot belonged to Concordia with 70.68 points, a university that Point Park had fallen to twice at the beginning of the season.
The Pioneers average score on the season improved to 75.58, but Point Park actually dropped in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) standings and is now ranked at No. 17 after eight events.
The dance team added another victory on the day and its third of the weekend when it topped four teams at Sunday’s competition.
Point Park earned the first-place score of 90.27 ahead of Aquinas College at 86.87, Siena Heights at 83.87, Adrian College at 75.25 and Concordia University at 60.07. The Pioneers’ score is the second-highest of the season behind the Dec. 7 performance at Concordia that earned them 92.00 points.
The other victories of the weekend came just the day before at the Saint Francis Invitational. The Pioneers placed first of the three teams in attendance in both competitions of the day.
In the first meeting, the Pioneers scored 71.75. Point Park improved its performance in the second meeting and finished first again with a score of 76.00 points. Saint Francis and Saint Xavier University placed second and third, respectively, in both meetings.
The dance team’s average points per match decreased by less than a point from last week to 80.51 after 10 events, and the team fell to the No. 7 spot in the NAIA.
With the 2018-2019 regular season in the books, both teams look ahead to the NAIA Northeast Regional Qualifier on Feb. 23. The Pioneers will return to Adrian, Mich. to compete at Siena Heights for the competition, and the advancing teams will then compete at the NAIA National Championship on March 8-9 in Davenport, Iowa.
