Complete Results

ORLANDO, Fla. – After a year off from competing in person at nationals, the College of Saint Benedict dance team got right back into the swing of things this weekend in Orlando.
 
Saint Benedict brought home a pair of top-seven finishes in Sunday's finals, ending the weekend in fifth in the Open Jazz competition and seventh in Open Pom. That marks the team's best finish at an in-person nationals event since 2017-18 when the team took third in Open Pom and sixth in Open Jazz.
 
The Bennies' biggest performance of the weekend came in the Open Jazz finals. CSB finished eighth in Saturday's semifinals with a score of 88.8116, and moved up three spots in the finals to finish fifth with a score of 89.9275.
 
Saint Benedict was one of four Minnesota schools to finish in the top five in Open Jazz as MSU-Mankato took home the national title, St. Cloud State took second and Minnesota-Duluth finished fourth. The University of Minnesota took second in Division 1A Jazz.
 
The Bennies also finished seventh in Open Pom behind three other Minnesota schools. CSB finished with a score of 87.5652 while Mankato won the national title, St. Cloud State took second and Minnesota-Duluth finished fourth. The U of M also took second in Division 1A Pom.
 
"This team has really stepped up this year," CSB dance team coach Anne Sumangil '99 said. "Last year, we weren't allowed to travel to in-person nationals, so we had to participate virtually. In some ways that put us at a disadvantage because the majority of our team had not been to UDA Nationals. After getting the opportunity taken away last year, the team bonded and stepped up so we could compete in-person and do well.
 
"For jazz in particular, we went from eighth in the semifinals to fifth place in the finals. Moving up that much is unheard of, and we are so proud of them."