Jan. 17, 2008
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF cheerleading squad, KnightMoves, and Knightro will all look to take home a national title at the 2008 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship at Disney's Wide World of Sports Jan. 18-20.
Knightro will compete Friday night at 6 p.m. in the Mascot Nationals, before the dance team performs on Saturday at 1:25 p.m. in the Hip Hop Division and 6:21 p.m. in the Jazz Division. Both Knightro and KnightMoves can be seen at Disney's MGM Studios in the Indiana Jones Theater.
Of nine mascots invited to the National Championship, Knightro qualified by placing ninth in the preseason poll behind Tennessee, Auburn, Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, Minnesota, Delaware, Syracuse, Colorado and Iowa.
Sunday's finale will feature the cheerleading team vying to defend its 2007 National Title at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in the Division IA Cheer Finals at 5:15 p.m.
UCF is seeded second in the competition behind 2006 National Champion Kentucky. The UCF cheerleaders won the national championship in 2007 and 2003 and were the runner-up in 2002. The team has finished in the top 10 at the national competition 12 of the last 14 years.
The three other universities to receive automatic bids are Minnesota, Ohio State and Hawaii. An additional 18 schools received invitations, but must pass through the semifinal round.
The cheerleading squad received an automatic bid into the finals as a result of a 90-second video entry of required skills, which has no weight in the outcome of the finals. The Knights received the highest at-large score.The team submitted a second video showing crowd response to the cheerleaders at various sporting events that counts for 15 percent of the team's final score. UCF was one of 11 teams to receive a perfect score on the crowd tape.
The UCF cheerleaders have invited Tennessee, LSU and Ohio State to practice with them Friday afternoon at the Education Gym on the UCF campus. Practice will be from 2-4:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Both LSU and Ohio State recently cheered on their schools at the 2008 BCS National Football Championship.
Fans can also see the cheerleaders, dance team and Knightro perform tonight at the UCF women's basketball game at the new UCF Arena. The game versus Houston is slated for 7 p.m.
Tickets for the national championship can be purchased at Disney's Wide World of Sports.
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pics.
-UCF-
National Championship Schedule
Friday, January 18
*MASCOT Nationals - Disney's MGM Studios (Indiana Jones Theater)
6:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 19
*DANCE Semifinals - Disney's MGM Studios (Indiana Jones Theater)
Hip Hop Division - 1:25 p.m.
Jazz Division - 6:21 p.m.
Sunday, January 20 - Finals at Disney's Wide World of Sports
*DANCE Finals
Hip Hop - 12:45- 2 p.m.
Jazz - 4-5:10 p.m.
*CHEER Finals
Division IA - 5:15-7 p.m.