ORLANDO, FL. - The Saint Francis University Dance Team competed at The College Classic in Orlando, FL over Easter break. It was their first year attending a National Competition as a program and they hope to continue the tradition for years to come. 

Going into the weekend, our goal was to focus on timing. We knew that our choreography did not align with the judges' score sheets so in order to have a successful performance, we wanted them to notice our timing. Our music was slow for the Pom routine and we ended day one with a 75.36 which put us in sixth of six places right behind the University of Denver. As for the Jazz routine, we were set up for better success, but it was a newer routine that we weren't 100% confident in every tiny motion (since we learned it most recently). After the preliminary performance, our score was 76.48. This was a better score than Pom but put us in eleventh of eleven teams, again behind the University of Denver.

Scoring for day one at The College Classic is just used for placement at finals. The score does not carry over into the second day. Preparing for our next performance, Red Flash Dance took the judges comments and made adjustments for a better chance at overcoming our 3.56 point deficit behind the University of Denver in Pom.  And, it did help as we scored 78.58. That still kept us in sixth place but we inched closer to the fifth place team, the University of Denver, at just a 2.76 point deficit this time. 

On the second day of the Jazz competition, our Red Flash team put more emotion into the performance knowing we had to leave everything on the floor. It paid off earning us a score of 79.54, our best marks of the weekend! All in all, we are proud of what we brought to the floor this first time at Nationals. Yes, the results could have been better but our efforts made the trip worth the time. It is that mentality that will carry over into the real world when we have pressure to perform at high levels for work.

Frankie the mascot also traveled with the Red Flash Dance team and competed in his first ever solo competition against seven other Mascots. After the preliminary competition, Frankie sat in eighth place with 37.2 points behind Bethel College. Moving into finals, Frankie made some adjustments and improved .2 points but remained in the same position. 

We all learned a lot from this trip to Nationals. It is still undetermined if we will be attending these same nationals next year, going smaller, or going larger. The Red Flash Dance team and Frankie the Friar appreciate all of our fan's support and hope to see them at many SFU events in the future. Go Red Flash!