Competing at the Division I level for the first time in program history, the Lion Line dance team earned two top-12 finishes at the UDA Collegiate National Championships January 12-14 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.

The weekend began with preliminary competition in Division I Jazz on Friday. The Lady Lions earned an event score of 89.4921 to take third place in their group of 16 to be one of 20 squads overall to advance to the semifinals on Saturday.

Lindenwood posted a solid event score of 88.0317 in that round, but came up just over a point shy of being among the 10 teams that advanced to the finals, tying for 12^th place with South Dakota State University.

The Lindys also competed among 18 schools in the Division I Hip Hop semifinals on Saturday and earned an event score of 86.7143 to finish seventh and advance as one of nine teams to the finals. Facing stiff competition, Lion Line earned an event score of 83.2381 to take eighth place nationally, finishing about a half-point behind the College of Charleston in seventh. The University of Delaware ultimately won the Division I Hip Hop title.

Head Coach Whitney Schneider reflected on the first-ever D1 competition experience at Nationals.

"We were just shy of the cut with two incredible performances for our first-ever showing in the D1 Jazz category and we placed eighth in the nation for our first-ever showing in the D1 Hip Hop finals!" she said. "I'm proud of the outcome and excited for our continuous climb as we continue competing in D1!"

Division I - Hip Hop
Finals

Rank	Program Name	Event Score
1	University of Delaware	90.6825
2	Utah Valley University	89.9683
3	St John's University	87.5714
4	Grand Canyon University	86.0794
5	University of Saint Thomas	85.1587
6	Saint Joseph's University	84.9365
7	College of Charleston	83.7302
8	Lindenwood University	83.2381
9	Northern Arizona University	81.2857

 
Division I - Jazz
Semi-Finals

Rank	Program Name	Event Score
1*	Cal State University Fullerton	92.9206
2*	Hofstra University	92.7143
3*	Utah Valley University	92.6984
4*	University of Saint Thomas	92.3492
5*	Grand Canyon University	91.746
6*	University of Delaware	91.3016
7*	UC Santa Barbara	91.2222
8*	University of Nebraska Omaha	90.6349
9*	Southeastern Louisiana University	89.746
10*	College of Charleston	89.254
11	Quinnipiac University	88.746
12	Lindenwood University	88.0317
12	South Dakota State University	88.0317
14	University of New Hampshire	86.0952
15	University of Northern Iowa	86.0714
16	Butler University	86.0159
17	University of California-San Diego	85.8413
18	Villanova University	85.0159
19	North Dakota State University	83.7778
20	East Tennessee State University	83.254

Note: * indicates advancing to finals