After four consecutive years of seventh place finishes, the dance team placed third in nationals Friday in Daytona, Fla.

“We’ve finished seventh place for the past four years so we got out of our slump,” Alyse Dason, senior captain and biological sciences major, said.

“We got third in taping, so coming out of it we were hoping for top three, and when we obtained it, it was great,” Dason said.

While first place went to BYU and second to Louisville, according to Dason, there was no shame in finishing behind those two particular schools.

“For the past five years they’ve been battling for first and second place, so to finish third place behind those two teams is a great accomplishment,” Dason said.

The dance team worked on its competition routine for six months and showed it off to the public April 2 at Reynolds Coliseum, shortly before heading to Daytona.

Getting there, however, is no easy task. To compete in the nationals, a team must send in a tape of its performance and get invited by the NCAA.

After showing off its routine in the preliminaries, N.C. State was among the select few teams to continue on to the championships.

“From preliminaries, they take about 50 percent of the teams,” Dason said. “Of all the teams to start, that was only about 15. Going into finals, we were ranked fourth so we had high expectations of getting top three.”

The routine, consisting of three sections, lasts for two minutes and 15 seconds of intense dancing. Following each routine, judges grade the competitors on various elements and then their total score is released.

“The dance is broken into three sections of 30 seconds but also has the intro and conclusion,” Dason said. “Each section has to be 30 seconds and you get deductions based on your entertainment level, skill, motion, sequences, synchronization and crowd appeal.”

Following its routine, the Wolfpack went to the winner’s circle, which was a first for the girls. The team credits new coach Erica McInnis for the placing.

“We brought Erica on because we knew she was really motivated and disciplined. She had won second twice when she was on the team, so we knew she would take us in the right direction,” said Leigh Justice, a junior in communication.

“From the very beginning she came in and told us we could be top three and that was our goal. After we got top three for taping, which is like the preliminary standings, we knew we were on the right track.”

McInnis commutes three to four times a week from Greensboro to coach the team. Because the dance team is not considered an official team at State, the coaches must work for free, and the team must pay its own way to competitions as well.

“It would be nice to be able to pay our coach because this is the fourth coach we’ve had in four years,” Dason said. “They just can’t afford to commute every day and commit so much time to the team.”

The competitions, travel, uniforms and pom-poms can cost as much as $40,000, which is a cost the team must find a way to pay for. To do this, they have turned to the community for help.

“We had to raise a lot of our own money, club sports did help us out though, but we usually get our money through sponsorships,” Dason said.

Though the team did not finish first, it did win another award for its routine. The innovative choreography award was given to the team for its use of props and overall excitement of the dance.

“We used props this year like stools and some of the girls jumped over them, stood on them, did leg extensions and flipped them over, and the judges really like the fact that we used that. It gave a little added touch,” Dason said.

“Even though we didn’t win the competition because maybe we didn’t have as high a level as BYU, the judges liked our routine so much it’s really an honor to win that award,” Justice added.

The competition will be replayed on CBS April 22 for those who did not get a chance to see it in Daytona and for the team to relive its experience.

After that though, it’s back to work. The team has tryouts in two weeks, starts practice again for next year in June and then has camp in August.

“Now for next year we can set higher goals,” Justice said.