SHSU Wins Championships In Two Spirit Programs

KBTX.com

Sam Houston State University took away top honors in the National Cheerleaders Association/National Dance Association Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship held at Daytona Beach, Fla. April 7-11.

The Orange Pride Dance Team and Sammy the Bearkat won the 2010 national championship in each of their categories. The teams are formally associated with SHSU’s Department of Student Activities’ Spirit Programs.

“We are so proud of the Orange Pride Dance Team, Sammy the Bearkat and the mascot program,” said Brandon Cooper, assistant director of student activities at Sam Houston State.

“They continually work hard to improve the standards of the teams they are involved with, and it has paid off. This is such an amazing accomplishment for them as students and for the university as a whole,” he said.

The Sam Houston State University Orange Pride Dance Team won the 2010 National Dance Alliance (NDA) Collegiate National Championship in Open Division 1 Friday afternoon (April 9).

Sam Houston State’s dance team was the top seed going into the competition, winning the division competition over Weber State, Illinois State, University of Texas at Arlington, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw University and others.

The team consists of 16 members and is coached by senior health major and former dance team captain Sarah Knigge of Killeen.
On the following day (Saturday, April 10) SHSU’s Sammy the Bearkat won the Mascot Nationals, also in Daytona, in a competition featuring mascots from 10 schools.

Criminal justice major Jarrod Leftwich, of Linden, is the life behind Sammy’s character.

He won over four other mascots including second place winner Sharky from Hawaii Pacific University and third place winner Mr. Wuf from North Carolina State University. Also placing were the mascots from Western Kentucky University and Cal State-Long Beach.

Leftwich was selected to compete with the other mascots from his preliminary video entry. At the competition, he was required to perform a 90-second skit, which was judged on a variety of factors including creativity, props and usage of the props, characterization and crowd response.

Almost 5,000 student athletes and 15,000 spectators convened for the Daytona Beach competition. The NCA/NDA Collegiate Championship is the largest College Cheer and Dance Championship in the world.

The competitions will be aired on Fox Sports Network on April 24-26.

Sam Houston State Dancers, Cheerleaders Named All-American

By Raegan Castillo, SHSU News Service
Huntsville Item

Sam Houston State University student Melissa Compian has been performing dance routines on stage since she was just a little girl.

Dancers that have years of experience, dedication and hard work like Compian make up the Sam Houston State University Orange Pride dance team.

“This year starts my eighth year of training and performing with a team,” Compian said. “Orange Pride has been wonderful! We are an extremely dedicated team made up dancers with different styles, each with a talent to contribute to our group as a whole.”

Compian, four other members of the dance team and two members of the co-ed cheerleading squad were awarded All-American statuses at the National Cheer Association/National Dance Association Cheerleading and Dance Collegiate Camp July 24-25 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

The All-American Collegiate Dancers awarded from Orange Pride were Gloria Smith, Hillary Villman, Compian, Hannah Shields and Everest Guerra.

Awarded All-American Collegiate Cheerleaders were Nick Woodward and Holly Vonderau from the co-ed squad.

Both the dance team and the squad worked to improve their dance and cheerleading skills over the weekend at the NCA/NDA SMU College Camp with schools from across the region.

“The camp provides us with a chance to work around other teams and to show the collegiate dance world what we have to offer before nationals,” Compian said.

In order to receive an All-American award, the NCA/NDA judges nominate the dancers to perform a short choreography and the cheerleaders to successfully perform a set of six or seven skills that include tumbling, stunting and a jump.

“The camp staff watches everyone the entire weekend,” Shields said. “The last day when everyone has performed, they announce the All-American nominees. We then had to learn a short dance in 20 minutes and perform it while the whole camp watched us.

“At the final award ceremony they announced the All-Americans from all of the cheer and dance teams,” Shields said.

Last year, Orange Pride received a “half paid silver bid,” where they advanced to the NDA National Competition in Daytona Beach, Fla., and placed second. The team returned this year to receive a “gold full bid,” and will again compete in the NDA National Competition in 2010.

“This year was so much fun,” Villman said. “Although the camp is very intense and tiring, I got to share it with the girls that I love and achieve our ultimate goal of winning a full-paid bid to nationals.”

The co-ed cheerleading squad came back home with a bronze bid and new techniques.

“Being able to see all of the NCA staff showing us different techniques and stunts really helped out,” Woodard said. “I’ll be able to come back and apply it to our squad.”

NCA/NDA camps have served generations of cheerleaders and dancers around the world, according to the National Cheer Association. They teach leadership, strong support of school athletic teams, the pursuit of skills excellence and safety, and teamwork.

“Being able to go to this collegiate dance camp is a huge accomplishment in itself,” Shields said. “Not many can say they have taken their sport or hobby to this level.”

Orange Pride was also awarded the “Most Spirited Team,” the all-girls squad received third place in the All-Girl Cheer Off competition in their division and was awarded a bronze paid bid. The co-ed squad also received first place in the Co-Ed Cheer Off competition within their division.

“Being on Orange Pride has been an amazing experience. It’s allowed me to be more involved with SHSU, make a bunch of life long friends, and to compete in a collegiate national championship,” Villman said. “And being awarded All-American dancer, I was very surprised and very, very excited. I feel honored to be able to represent SHSU in this way.”