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UP Pep Squad rules UAAP cheerdance tilt


Its sports morale in tatters after a winless basketball season, the University of the Philippines now has reason to celebrate as the UP Pep Squad captured the cheerdance crown Sunday with an exuberant fiesta-themed performance at the packed Araneta Coliseum. 22,000 loud fans witnessed this increasingly popular competition. Unveiling a perfectly-executed routine, the Diliman-based squad impressed the five judges to garner a score of 440.9 points and beat Far Eastern University's cheering squad and the University of Santo Tomas’ Salinggawi Dance Troupe. FEU received 421.4 points, good for second, while UST, which finished fourth last year, registered 407.5 points for third place.

UP's pep squad helps erase the pain of its hoops team's winless UAAP season by capturing the cheerdance crown with an exuberant fiesta-themed performance. FEU was second, UST third. Roehl Niño Bautista
It was the third time in the last four years that UP won the annual event, uplifting fans in the doldrums after an unexpectedly miserable hoops season by the UP varsity. It was the second time in the last four seasons that the basketball team ended up winless. The Pep Squad salvaged some measure of pride for UP. "Some people were saying that we should win considering that our basketball team failed to win a single time," said coach NJ Antonio. In 2008, UP won by relying on a tribe-like theme. Last season, it leaned more on campus life, but the team ended up third. This year, they went to back to a classic Filipiniana-theme, featuring take-offs from the nation’s famous festivals, among them the Ati-Atihan Festival and the Masskara Festival in Bacolod. "UP has become known for performing Filipino heritage themes" said Antonio. "Even though we try to adapt some new styles in cheerdance, we always make sure that we keep that theme each year." UP got four first-place votes from the five judges - Russian Anatoly Panasyukov, Jasmin Amanda Valenton-Ortega, Evangeline Navarro, Robbie Hayden and Javier Beren. FEU sported a Samurai theme, highlighted by unique stunts and a prop that resembled its Morayta campus. "I'm happy with the way we performed in this event," said FEU coach Jacqueline Alolor. "The most important thing for us is that we were able to do a flawless execution of our routine." Inspired by their stunning finish last year, UST relied mostly on its upbeat execution and a Tiger-like theme to make its way back into the "Top 3." "Last year was a learning experience for us," said coach Ryan Silva. "The UST community said that we did well and that got us motivated to perform better this year." Ateneo, which took runner-up honors last season, thanks to a Michael Jackson-inspired Moonwalk routine, grabbed fourth spot while La Salle’s Animo Squad, behind its heroism theme, finished fifth. The University of the East, with a Warrior-inspired concept, placed sixth, while National University and sloppy Adamson took seventh and eighth, respectively. - RCJ/HS, GMANews.TV
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