Williamsburg, KY – The Patriots cheerleading team will be returning to the NAIA National Tournament this season for the fourth consecutive year and sixth time overall. The NAIA National Tournament will take place on March 28-29th at the George Gervin GameAbove Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  

Cumberlands started the season strong at the Georgetown Invitational securing two first place victories. The following weekend, the team traveled to Missouri Baptist University where they placed second out of nine teams. In the last two competitions of the regular season, the Campbellsville Invitational and William Penn Invitational, the Pats garnered a total of four first place victories to finish strong before heading into the conference tournament.  

On the season, the Pats averaged a total score of 88.67 putting them at 7th in the NAIA rankings amongst all NAIA teams. Their highest score in the regular season came during the first round of the Georgetown Invite where they recorded a 92.36. 

At the Mid-South Conference Championship on March 8th, The Patriots finished second with a total score of 88.87. Georgetown secured a score of 93.53 to solidify first place and earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.  

Fifteen teams received a bid to the NAIA National Tournament with nine automatic qualifiers, five at-large bids, and one host bid. The automatic qualifiers were the winners of the nine conference championships. The SSAC, Mid-South, AMC, Heart, and Sooner/SAC conferences have two bids to give out, one automatically goes to the conference champion and the second goes to the runner-up. Thirteen teams from the 2024 NAIA National Tournament will be returning to compete again for the chance at winning a national title.  

The Pats are set to take the mat at 6:50 PM on Friday, March 28th to compete in the preliminary round of competition. The finals round will be held on Saturday, March 29th.  

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