KANSAS CITY, Mo. – At the conclusion of the 2024 Nfinity NAIA Competitive Cheer National Championship, 83 student-athletes were announced as NAIA All-Americans. Missouri Baptist University junior Joey Barker was named to the 38-member All-America First Team.
 
Barker becomes the third Spartan to become a Cheer All-American, but the first to earn First Team honors. Dominic Johnson and Michael Bowling were named All-America Honorable Mention in 2020 and 2022, respectively.
 
The All-America teams were determined by the national championship judges and were graded on a scale where a score of 16.00+ places someone on the First Team, 14.50-15.99 on the Second Team, and 12.00-14.49 on the Third Team. For tryouts, cheer student-athletes were recorded doing four elements: toe tuck, triple jump combination, round off back handspring full twisting layout, and stunts. They were graded on a scale of 1-5 ranging from poor form and technique to superior form and technique.
 
Four athletes posted perfect scores of 20 to earn NAIA Co-Cheerleader of the Year honors: Carlos Fetterer (St. Ambrose), Trey Galvan (Saint Mary), Martavious Owten (St. Ambrose), and Dylan Sonnier (Xavier).
 
Since the NAIA All-America teams were instituted for the sport in 2016, Missouri Baptist has had three recognized All-Americans with all three coming in the last five years.