Jan. 15, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - As the UCF spirit program gets closer to wrapping up its intense training regimen, the Knights are ready to prove that they remain one of the top teams in the country when they head to Disney's Wide World of Sports for the 2009 College Cheerleading and Dance National Championships. It all starts Friday night with the finals taking place on Sunday.
The UCF cheerleaders are two-time national title holders, claiming the trophy in 2003 and 2007, while they were the runner-up in 2002. In all, the Black and Gold has posted 13 top-10 performances in just the last 15 years, including third place last season.
A pair of seniors kick off the festivities for UCF, as Mike Pucci (Dunnellon, Fla.) and Amy Winn (East Islip, N.Y.) will compete in the Partner Stunt National Championship at 9 p.m.
On Saturday, UCF's cheerleaders received a bye straight to the finals, but will perform at 1:52 p.m. in the rehearsal stage. Only the Knights, Oklahoma, Kansas, LSU, Ohio State, Alabama, Kentucky and Memphis earned the right to skip the semifinals.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios and the Indiana Jones Theater, KnightMoves will be on stage at 1 p.m. in the Division IA hip hop semifinals. Later in the evening at 6:54 p.m., they will be back for the dance semifinals.
All of the finals will be held at the Wide World of Sports on Sunday, with the hip hop finals from 12:30-1:55 p.m., the dance finals from 4-5:10 p.m. and the cheer finals from 5:45-7 p.m.
For more detailed information, fans may head to http://uca.varsity.com/college_nationals.aspx.
With Friday serving as the last day for the entire spirit program to practice, UCF will invite Tennessee, LSU and Ohio State to campus to help complete its training schedule.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.