UVU dance, cheer teams win national competition

OREM, Utah – The cheer and dance teams at Utah Valley University brought home the National Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship from Daytona Beach last week.

The UVU Dance Team placed first in the Jazz dance category. It outscored 65 teams in all of the five collegiate divisions. In addition, it earned the top score overall in the national competition.

The combined UVU Cheer and Dance teams, mascot Willy Wolverine, and the school drumline named The Green Man Group were also tops in the Division 1 Game Day category.

The Cheer Team took third place in the Advanced All-Girl competition.

“The talent and atmosphere at the NCA College national competition is electric,” said Kati Marsing, UVU’s Spirit Squad director. “And our students were simply amazing. Their hard work, grit, and determination paid off with exceptional performances. We are very proud of them.”

“I love going to Daytona to compete. I love the atmosphere and the people,” said Emma Heiner, a two-year member of the cheer squad. “Everyone here has the ambition to be the best and they are doing it with the people they love. Everyone worked hard to get here.”

Kaleb Rodriguez, a first-year student said, “It was worth every hour of practice and all the hard work. The competition has been a great experience, a very educational experience for me to be out of state performing!”

It was a remarkable showing for UVU: The teams finished first in game day results, first in jazz results, second in dance-hip hop results, and third in cheer-advanced all-girl results. The team also competed in the stunt group category.

One other Utah school took home a grand prize too.

Weber State University Cheer celebrated a 5th consecutive National title in the D-1 Advanced Large Co-ed Division along with a new national title in the Advanced Small Co-ed division.

The dance team also took third place in D-1 Hip Hop.