DAVENPORT, Iowa – St. Gregory's cheer team placed ninth overall Saturday at the 2016 NAIA Competitive Cheer & Dance National Invitational. The event was hosted at the RiverCenter in Davenport, Iowa.

The Cavaliers were consistent throughout, posting an 82.38 in Friday's preliminary round before scoring 82.23 in Saturday's finals. That led to an 82.27 overall, more than 12 points back of champion Martin Methodist (Tenn.). Sooner Athletic Conference foe Oklahoma City placed second.

Team scores were tabulated by three judges in each of the following 10 categories: standing tumbling, running tumbling, stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, jumps, choreography, degree of difficulty, showmanship and execution.

Friday night's preliminary round contributed 25 percent of the teams' overall scores. Saturday's performances supplied the additional 75 percent.

St. Gregory's will travel to the NCA/NDA Collegiate Cheer Championship April 7-8 in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Cavs finished fourth there last year.

FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS

1 - Martin Methodist (Tenn.), 94.44
2 - Oklahoma City, 92.80
3 - Concordia (Mich.), 91.80
4 - St. Ambrose (Iowa), 91.07
5 - Saint Francis (Ind.), 87.59
6 - Midland (Neb.), 86.58
7 - Graceland (Iowa), 85.66
8 - Bethel (Kan.), 82.71
9 - St. Gregory's (Okla.), 82.27
10 - Robert Morris (Ill.), 81.16
11 - Texas Wesleyan, 80.92
12 - Kansas Wesleyan, 78.93