Brigham Young University Cougarettes have reason to rise and shout.
They're the new grand champions of the 1996-97 National Cheer Association's National Collegiate Dance competition.They beat out 135 teams and topped the large-university dance team division recently at Daytona Beach, Fla., to win the title.
Advisers Jody Maxfield said the 16 team members paid for the trip themselves and worked hard to ready the combination jazz and funk dance routine that won them not only first place in their division but the overall championship.
In turn, the girls get two trophies to display, a $1,500 team gift certificate for costumes, T-shirts, hats and individual letter-man jackets.
"The choreography ended up being a cooperative effort," said Maxfield. "We had hired a choreographer, but the rules changed after we had a routine worked out that was straight jazz."
Once notified that the dance routines should also contain some funk-style dance with pompon skills, Maxfield said she and her team leaders sat down and reconstructed.
"We actually started working on the routine we did (for the competition) one week before the contest," said Maxfield. "Yet they still received the highest score ever given."
The routine done basically to a Celine Dion song, "River Deep Mountain High," worked for the Cougarettes.
Their winning score was 8.663. The nearest contender, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, had a 7.9.
Maxfield said the Cougarettes' jazz technique made their routine a stand-out with the dancers performing a series of individual turns as a climax.
"The audience loved it," said Maxfield.
Their performance will air on CBS, Ch. 2, at noon Sunday, April 20.
Members of the team include Hollie Anderson, Cami Bateman, Cassie Drake, Maryann Gregg, Jennifer Horne, Marci Harker, Amberlee Hoeger, Kristi Jones, Gretchen Pate, Shaundee Pay, Kara Sandberg, Angela Summer-hays, Amy Groesbeck, Amy Walker, Julian Wilson and Natalie Rhodes-Wilson.