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Lakers Dance Earns Pair Of Top-5 Finishes At NDA National Championships
Posted: Apr 10, 2023

Lakers Dance Earns Pair Of Top-5 Finishes At NDA National Championships

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Roosevelt dance team earned a pair of top-five finishes at the National Dance Alliance College National Championships over the weekend in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Lakers competed for the first time in the team competition and danced for a second consecutve year in the hip hop division.

 In the prelims of the NAIA team competition on Thursday, the Lakers were able to advance to the finals in fifth place with a score of 82.85, which put them less than five points off the leaders of the competition. Roosevelt was able to perform a slightly cleaner routine during the final Friday, but it had to settle for a fifth-place finish with a score of 83.45 less than two points behind third place and seven points back of the winner.

The team routine was a 2-minute, 15-second mixture of jazz, poms and hip hop styles that was choreographed by Roosevelt spirit coordinator Lindsay Jones, who also serves as the dance coach, along with assistant dance coach Erica Andrus.

"Jazz and Pom are not our strong suit, but our team really took on the challenge and put our name on the map for years to come," Jones said. "I am excited to see how we can build off this performance for next season."

Roosevelt took home third place in NAIA hip hop after advancing out of a tough preliminary Friday by less than 0.2 points. The Lakers scored an 84.9143 in the preliminaries, but a tougher judging panel made the finals challenging for every school competing. Only one finalist scored better in the finals than the prelims, and the Lakers finished third with a score of 83.9429, less than two points behind the winner.

The hip hop routine was choreographed by guest choreographer Joseph Raya.

"We went into nationals this year with the goal of finishing in the top three, and we were able to accomplish that," Jones said. "I could not be prouder of this team and the hard work they put in throughout the year. Our theme this year was to 'Ride The Wave' and we really enjoyed the ride throughout our experience in Florida."