Qualifiers for 2020 Competitive Cheer Championship Announced
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) officially announced the qualifiers for the 2020 Competitive Cheer National Championship. The 12-team competition will get underway with preliminaries on March 13.
This year's field includes six automatic qualifiers, six at-large bids. The automatic qualifiers are determined by the winners of the qualifiers. At-Large positions will be awarded to the teams with the six highest Year End Scores that did not receive an automatic bid. Year End Scores are calculated by taking 40% of a team's season average plus 60% of a team's average qualifier score. St. Ambrose (Iowa) qualified as both the host and Northeast Qualifier Champion, which allowed for the sixth at-large berth. Click here for a breakdown of the selection process.
Qualifier Highlights
- Defending national champions, Concordia (Mich.) will return to the 2020 championship with an at-large bid.
- Oklahoma City, who was the first champion, 2018 runner-up and 2019 runner-up qualified as the Southwest Qualifier Champion.
- Six of the 12 qualifying teams qualified for all three championships: Concordia (Mich.), Indiana Wesleyan, Lourdes (Ohio), Missouri Valley, Oklahoma City and St. Ambrose (Iowa).
- Two of the 12 qualifying teams will compete in the national championship for the first time: Loyola (La.) and Point (Ga.)
- Eight teams return to the championship for the second year in a row.
| Institution | Qualification | Appearances | Last Time | Titles |
| Concordia (Mich.) | At-Large Bid | 4 | 2019 | 1 |
| Cumberlands (Ky.) | Mideast Qualifier Champion | 2 | 2019 | 0 |
| Indiana Wesleyan | At-Large Bid | 4 | 2019 | 0 |
| Lourdes (Ohio) | At-Large Bid | 4 | 2019 | 0 |
| Loyola (La.) | At-Large Bid | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin Methodist (Tenn.) | Southeast Qualifier Champion | 2 | 2018 | 0 |
| Midland (Neb.) | Northwest Qualifier Champion | 2 | 2018 | 0 |
| Missouri Valley | Midwest Qualifier Champion | 4 | 2019 | 1 |
| Mobile (Ala.) | At-Large Bid | 2 | 2019 | 0 |
| Oklahoma City (Okla.) | Sothwest Qualifier Champion | 4 | 2019 | 1 |
| Point (Ga.) | At-Large Bid | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| St. Ambrose (Iowa) | Northeast Qualifier Champion | 4 | 2019 | 0 |
Competition will begin on March 13 in Lee Lohman Arena on the campus of St. Ambrose University (Iowa).Teams at the Competitive Cheer and Dance National Championships will be competing on a level playing field as regular season and qualifier scores are not taken into consideration during the championships.
Schedule of events CLICK HERE
Competitive cheer All-Americans will be announced on Tuesday, March 3rd at noon central time.