As the Texas A&M cheer team secured a three-peat in the NCA nationals in Daytona, Florida. An hour’s drive away, the Aggie Dance Team won a hattrick of its own with a third national title in the Division IA Team Performance competition at The College Classic on April 9.
The Aggie Dance Team, or ADT, was created in 1990 as a student organization and transitioned during the 1995-96 season to join the A&M Athletics support group. Led by fifth-year coach Amy Liefer, the Aggies took over the Orange County Convention Center, edging out runner-up Baylor with a score of 91.46 to the Bears’ 89.32.
“We are the National Champions and I could not be more proud of the Aggie Dance Team,” Liefer said to 12thMan.com. “The heart and soul that this incredible team put into the preparation of their routines, and the six amazing performances they had shows in the outcomes we received. Congratulations to all of the teams who competed this weekend and made the weekend an incredible experience. This has been such an incredible year together, and a team that is paving the way for this program to have great success as a competitive D1A dance team for many years to come.”
ADT couldn’t sweep the competition as they fell second to Arizona State University in the Jazz competition as the ASU dance team scored 93.64, barely defeating the Aggies’ 93.30. Kansas State, Purdue and Michigan State took the rest of the top five with 90.94, 90.34 and 88.04, respectively.
However, A&M was redeemed when it was chosen to compete in The Battle and ultimately became Jazz Battle winner. The Battle includes “qualifying dance teams from the preliminary rounds [who] are selected and invited to perform hoping to win the Battle Cup,” according to TheCollegeClassic.com.
“We were selected to perform both of our routines, which is an incredible honor,” Liefer said to 12thMan.com. “I’m proud of the team for being selected as the battle winner in jazz out of all the jazz performances for the entire weekend, even over [Jazz National Champion] Arizona State.”
In addition to its win in the Jazz Battle, ADT also walked away with the coveted “Wow Moment” award.
“The ‘Wow Moment’ award is a recognition of the unique stunt we have in our Jazz routine that consists of one girl flying over another who is doing a trick in air while being lifted by some other girls,” Liefer said to 12thMan.com. “Big thanks to our team manager for doing the research to identify some amazing stunts to get us to the final selection, and the team for continuing to push to achieve this insane masterpiece in the middle of an extremely difficult routine.”
