SUNDANCERS FINISH 7TH IN NATION

After a shaky preliminary round, the Southeast Missouri State University Sundancers rebounded to earn a seventh place ranking at the NCA National Collegiate Dance Championships earlier this month in Daytona Beach, Fla.

"I knew we were one of the top 10 teams in the nation " said Sundancer coach Suzanne Vaughan.

"When we had problems in the prelim round, I asked the team to not focus on what went wrong, but to show the judges why we are one of the best in Division I," she said.

This is the second year for Southeast to finish in the nation's top 10. The 1998 squad also finished seventh.

This year's national champion was Towson University of Maryland.

Tennessee State was the only other Ohio Valley Conference team to qualify for the nationals. Tennessee State finished 11th overall.