The St. Cloud State University Dance Team won their seventh national championship at the Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Nationals on Jan. 19, taking first place in the Open Gameday category.
The SCSU Dance Team has a long standing history of excellence competitively, consistently ranking in the top-five nationally. The 2025 competition marked the 30th year of SCSU competing at the UDA Nationals, where the Huskies have previously won four consecutive UDA Open Gameday national titles from 2020-2023 and UDA Open Pom national titles in 2016 and 2021.
SCSU had to overcome adversity this year, earning a point deduction in the semifinal round that had them sitting in fifth place heading into the finals. Head coach Brittany Kwallek said the young team, with nearly half the members competing at nationals for the first time, pulled together to achieve the incredible result of topping Endicott College by 0.1 points to win the national title.
“Making the jump from fifth place to first is unheard of and is still so surreal,” Coach Kwallek said, who was a dancer on the 2016 Open Pom title team. “I knew from the first practice that this team was special and destined to do great things.”
SCSU also placed fourth in the Open Pom and Open Jazz categories. To commemorate 30 years of competing, the Huskies had connections to historical teams within their routines, like using music in mixes from past years or wearing jazz costumes inspired by the 2011 team.
“This season was nothing short of amazing,” Kwallek said. “Our incredible alumni paved the way to help us get to where our program is. We hope we made them proud this season.”
