The New Mexico spirit squad knows it’s an uphill battle for them when participating at competitions
This past weekend at UCA & UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship in Orlando, UNM fell just short of making it into the finals in its three divisions. The Lobos participated in the Division I Small Coed, Large Coed Division and the Division IA Jazz.
Even though UNM didn’t advance in any of the three divisions, second-year program coordinator Kelly Grice said the team improved on its scores from last season and that’s more important in the long run.
Depending on the division, only the top-11 or top-12 advance to the final round.
“It went really well,” she said. “We ended up representing New Mexico the best that we absolutely could. That’s the goal right now, to keep climbing and keep doing better every time.”
The Lobos participated in one of the toughest national championships there is. Grice said other companies hold “national championship” competitions but those don’t have the level of talent that the UCA & UDA is offering.
Some of the bigger programs that attended the event were: Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio State, Alabama and LSU.
Those schools have a leg up on the Lobos because they put more money into their spirit programs, which in turn allows them to offer scholarships to better talent. UNM is one of many schools that doesn’t give out scholarships for cheerleading or dance.
“And some of those schools, they are at the top,” Grice said. “They are the absolute best. If we can come in and (score) decently well and get in the ball park closer to them, that’s our goal every year.”
UNM only competes in one event per year because of budget constraints. Grice said she’s fine with that because the spirit squad’s primary job is to support the athletic teams.
“There’s not a lot of college competitions that you can compete in except for if you travel. Being in New Mexico, everything is very far for us, and expensive,” she said. “If we’re going to go we’re going to the best one.”
The way that the competitions are structured are radically different than in the NCAA. There are no leagues or conferences for cheerleading and dance. The teams that compete at the events are put together by how big their school is.
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“Then we’re competing against these schools that have a ton of money and have a lot of talent that come into their tryouts,” senior dancer Kristin Dodd said. “It can be intimidating because we’re against a lot harder teams when we compete. It’s fun to go out there and see those other teams and how awesome they do. It makes us work harder to compete with (them).”
Junior cheerleader Kayleigh Glandon said it’s a humbling experience to be able to compete with some of the better teams in the nation.
“It’s just so crazy to be next to those team that have such amazing talent,” she said. “There are so many amazing teams that people want to watch.”
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
