NEW ORLEANS —
Xavier University of Louisiana will begin defense of its title Friday
in the preliminary round of the 2023 NAIA Competitive Cheer National Championship at Ypsilanti, Mich.
Venue is Eastern Michigan University's
George Gervin GameAbove Center. Final round will be Saturday. Rankings will be based
on 25 percent of a team's preliminary score and 75 percent of the final-round score.
XULA is scheduled to compete Friday at 8 p.m. EST.
A year ago the Gold won XULA's first NAIA national
team title in any sport, its final score of 93.70 was a meet record, and
XULA's Glenn Caston was voted NAIA National Coach of the Year.
For the third straight year
XULA will enter nationals with the NAIA's No. 1 average score per meet: 95.90 out of a possible 100.
Qualifiers St. Ambrose (94.29), Dickinson State (91.68), Oklahoma City (89.11) and Midland (89.06)
are next on that list.
Fifteen teams qualified. The others
are Concordia (Mich.), Cumberlands, Friends, Georgetown (Ky.), Grand View, Indiana Wesleyan, MidAmerica Nazarene,
Missouri Valley, Mobile and Tennessee Southern.
XULA earned an automatic bid to nationals for the third consecutive year by winning its unaffiliated group qualifying event.
XULA's 97.72 at the qualifier is No. 2 all-time on XULA's list of highest final scores.
On the floor for XULA at the qualifier were
Kendall Baggett,
Syre Baker,
Kaitlyn Banks,
Tia Barrett,
Samantha Benton,
Kamari Blanding,
Lauren Bradfield,
Gabrielle Brightmon,
Amiyah Chapman,
Madison Clay,
Alyssa Hoey,
Kalenea Holt,
Teddie Reid,
Cyrus Riddle,
Carolyn Scruggs-Webster,
Kirstin Shears,
Laila Terry and
Kelsey White.
From that group Baker, Banks, Barrett, Brightmon, Chapman, Clay, Hoey, Holt, Reid and White were on the floor at nationals in 2022.
This is XULA's fourth season
of competitive cheer. The Gold placed fifth at nationals in 2021.
All previous team champions qualified.
Oklahoma City won in 2017 and 2021, Missouri Valley won in 2018, and Concordia (Mich.) won in 2019.
Indiana Wesleyan was the 2022 runner-up.
