For more information, contact Debbie Warren, 620-792-9311 or 792-3827;
Jimmy Adams 620-282-2018; or Amanda Schnoebelen, 620-617-8230

April 18, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke

Barton’s Dance Team Finishes Third Among Community Colleges at Nationals

Barton County Community College’s cheer squad and dance team were among teams from 209 colleges competing in the NCA/NDA Collegiate National Championships April 9-13 in Daytona Beach, Fla. There were 122 cheer teams and 87 dance teams.

The dance team finished 13th with only two other community colleges in front of them. Barton did not make finals during the preliminaries and had to fight back through the challenge cup. The team won the challenge cup to get to advance to its final performance on April 10 during the final competition.

 “I am extremely proud of the dancers and feel that they performed to the best of their abilities,” said Amanda Schnoebelen, Barton’s head dance line coach. “They have the toughest division and they hung in there and fought till the end. I’m happy with our standings and Barton County should be very proud with how they represented the school.”

The Barton dance teams did exceptionally well for having to compete with such large universities, said Debbie Warren, Barton’s spirit team adviser. Hawaii Pacific University won the division.

Barton had five members returning to the national competition from last year and eight new members. “I am really proud of the dance team and where they finished,” Warren said.

This was the 22nd year for the dance team to qualify and compete at the NCA/NDA Collegiate Championship and the 23rd year for Barton’s cheer squad.

The cheer squad finished fifth among community colleges. The squad was unable to make it into finals after preliminaries. They performed through the challenge cup, but came up short again and didn’t make it on to finals.

“I was disappointed for the kids,” said Barton’s head cheer coach Jimmy Adams in his first year to take the cheer squad to nationals. “Unfortunately we were not able to show the cheerleading world what a talented group of hard working students we had this year. I was proud of how the team bounced back in the challenge cup, but it wasn’t enough.”

“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. We were very talented, but just made two crucial mistakes,” Warren said. This was only the third time in 23 years of competing that the squad did not make finals. Trinity Valley won the community college division.

Adams was confident squad members returning would be able to take this year’s disappointment and use it to their advantage next year. “The kids are already hard at work and that shows you their dedication to their school and team,” he said.

A one-hour program of Division 1A will air April 26 and a one-hour program of non-division lA competition will air April 29, both on Fox Sports Network. For additional details, go to www.varsity.com and click on NCA.