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NAIA competitive cheer nationals history
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana will compete for another national title at the 2025 Nfinity NAIA Competitive Cheer National Championship Friday and Saturday at Ypsilanti, Mich.
XULA will perform fifth out of 15 teams during a preliminary round that will begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT Friday. Finals will start at 2 p.m. Saturday. Eastern Michigan University's George Gervin GameAbove Center is the venue.
Final rankings will be based on 25 percent of a team's Friday score and 75 percent of a team's Saturday score.
XULA qualified for nationals for the fifth consecutive year. The Gold is a sixth-year varsity program that won the title in 2022 — the first XULA team to win an NAIA-sponsored national championship in any sport — placed fifth in 2021, sixth in 2023 and second in 2024.
A year ago the top three teams — St. Ambrose (97.28 points out of a possible 100), XULA (96.91) and Oklahoma City (95.91) — produced the highest final scores in the meet's history.
XULA's athlete travel roster consists of Kennedy Alleyne,
Kennedy Baggett, Shane Beckles,
Samantha Benton,
Lauren Bradfield,
Gabrielle Brightmon, Jordan Brown, Elias Cato,
Britney Dixon, Ethan Jefferson,
Jimmie Jones,
Madison Levy, Cornilus Loyd, Kevin Myrthil, Tia Owens, Terence Petit,
Kerri Rhodes,
Alexandra Richards,
Cyrus Riddle,
Ramya Robinson,
Kirstin Shears,
Dylan Sonnier,
Cameron Speed and
Antonio Underwood.
All previous champions qualified. The others are St. Ambrose (2024, 2023), Oklahoma City (2021, 2017), Concordia (Mich.) (2019) and Missouri Valley (2018).
The remainder of the field consists of Cumberlands, Dickinson State, Florida Memorial, Georgetown (Ky.), Grand View, Indiana Wesleyan, Lourdes, Northwestern (Iowa), Saint Mary (Kan.) and Tennessee Southern.
XULA ranks third in points per performance this season with 91.97. Dickinson State is No. 1 at 94.57, St. Ambrose is second at 93.90, Oklahoma City is fourth at 91.74, and Georgetown is fifth at 89.23.
XULA is 17-1 against all opponents this season and
qualified for nationals with an at-large bid.
