Jan. 19, 2008
Knightro at Nationals Gallery| Cheer Semifinal Gallery
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF's Knightro finished eighth at the 2008 Mascot Nationals at Disney's MGM Studios Varsity.com announced Friday night. The mascot was competing in hopes of his first national championship.
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.
Tennessee's mascot, Smokey, took home the national title at the event, with Bucky the Badger from the University of Wisconsin and Aubie from Auburn University rounding out the top three.
All of Friday's performances from the Mascot Nationals can be seen by visiting Varsity.com.
The UCF cheerleaders and KnightMoves also performed at the 2008 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championships on Saturday in the semifinal round of competition, with both squads advancing to the final rounds of the event Sunday.
KnightMoves performed its way into the Division IA Hip Hop finals Sunday at 12:45 p.m., but due to extreme weather conditions, will have to wait until Sunday to perform in the Division IA Jazz semifinals.
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.
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.
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.
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