Cheerleading (Sideline) | 2/25/2017 10:46:00 PM

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Davenport cheerleading team consisting of all freshmen made a big statement on Saturday by winning the NAIA Regional hosted by Siena Heights. The victory means that the team will advance to the NAIA Nationals hosted in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 10-11. 

The final list of all qualifiers will be available via a live video show on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on NAIA.org.

The 2017 season marks the first year the sport will conduct a NAIA National Championship. The NAIA is the only collegiate athletics association to offer a national championship in this sport. Competitive Cheer and Dance is the first to earn national championship status within the NAIA in a span of 22 years.

Davenport bested in the field of 11 other schools in the regional with a total score of 95.18. The Panthers scored 23.53 in the prelims and 71.65 in the finals. Concordia (Mich.) finished second with 93.44 points and St. Francis (Ind.) rounded out the top three with 93.44 points but scored lower in the finals than Concordia (70.83-70.075).

Each category has a maximum of 10 points that can be earned. There are three judges that submit scores for each element and then the three scores are averaged to figure out the final score. The squad scored a perfect 10 by one judge in standing tumbling and two judges awarded a 10 in jumps. The team also had perfect 10's across the board in choreography.