Cheer and Dance teams to compete at IIAC Invitational on Sunday

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) will host the inaugural IIAC Competitive Cheer and Dance Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018. Buena Vista University will host the first time conference event at Siebens Fieldhouse in Storm Lake, Iowa with competition beginning at 12 p.m.

The event will be video streamed on BVUAthletics.com.

The Storm will compete in both the cheer and dance competitions, and both coaches are excited to compete on the conference level.

"The competitive cheer team and I are excited to stretch our skills and talents at a performance level extending beyond our normal level of game day cheering on the Storm at Football and Basketball games," head cheer coach Heather Hulen said. "While we take great pride and enthusiasm in cheering for our respective teams on the field and on the court, it is a notable opportunity for us as a competing team ourselves to represent Simpson College at a competitive level in our own sport, on the cheer mat."

"Our dance team is excited to have the sport recognized by the conference," head dance coach Paige Ahrens said. "We hope this draws attention to the hard work that all of these teams put in year-round and that this may grow the level of competition and interaction in IIAC."

In the inaugural year there will be five divisions: Dance (3 categories: Hip-hop, Jazz, Pom), Cheer (3 categories: Stunting Routine, Non-Stunting Routine and 5-person Stunt Showcase. Out of the nine conference institutions, seven currently have competitive cheer teams, which consist of six stunting and one non-stunting; five schools have competitive dance teams.

The host school determines the order of divisions. The order of teams within each division will be a random draw and submitted to all competing teams one week prior to the conference event. Check back to the IIAC Invitational page on Wednesday, February 7th for official order teams.

The top two teams in each category will be awarded an Iowa Conference Invitational trophy.