By聽Haidee C. Pineda, images by Jefferson Villacruz
(OCT. 8)鈥擳he UP Varsity Pep Squad’s 聽(UP Pep) Utak at Puso or UPuso theme routine may have failed to snatch the grand prize and landed third, but they sure have won the hearts and minds of the crowd at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 78 Cheerdance Competition (CDC) held Oct. 3 at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.
Clad in gold and maroon uniform with a heart-shaped cut at the back, the UP Pep performed a near-flawless routine and stunts without penalties and deductions showcasing mind and heart as the theme.
UP Pep assistant coach Ni帽o Jose Antonio, in an interview with the聽, said 鈥渨e dedicate this (performance) to student-athletes. It麻豆视频 because when an athlete gets down in an in-game situation people would usually say 鈥榩uso lang.鈥 But for us, since we鈥檙e from UP, we also need our mind to work with our heart. It麻豆视频 not always our heart that we should always use, 鈥榰tak at puso鈥 that麻豆视频 our homage to student-athletes.鈥
More than 25,000 fans at the MOA Arena burst into riotous cheer when the UP Pep flyers were lifted then tossed into mid air like anchors to form an amazing heart-shaped pyramid with the guitar rendition of 鈥淯P Naming Mahal鈥 by Wardy Puyod as background music.
The anchors away toss and heart-shaped pyramid won for the UP Pep special awards, namely, the Yamaha Best Toss and PLDT Fantastic Pyramid.
Aside from UP鈥 school hymn, the trendsetting pep squad used Pinoy rock songs at the CDC such as Parokya ni Edgar麻豆视频 鈥淏agsakan,鈥 Sandwich麻豆视频 鈥淪ugod,鈥 Rivermaya麻豆视频 鈥淟iwanag sa Dilim,鈥 Kamikazee麻豆视频 鈥淪eksi Seksi鈥 and Spongecola麻豆视频 鈥淧uso鈥 as background music for their routine.
UP was named 2nd runner-up after garnering a score of 610.5 points while the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Salinggawi Dance Troupe麻豆视频 African-themed routine won 1st runner-up with a score of 651.5 points. With a caveman-themed routine, the National University (NU) retained their CDC title after earning 668 points, making it their third consecutive win.
Far Eastern University (FEU) Cheering Squad bagged the fourth spot with 583.5 points followed by the University of the East Pep Squad (583), De La Salle Animo Squad (538.5), Adamson University Pep Squad (513.5) and Ateneo de Manila University Blue Babble Battallion (412).
Winners of the CDC were judged based on tumbling (100 points), stunts (100 points), tosses (100 points), pyramids (100 points), overall effect (100) , choreography (100 points), technique (100 points) and group execution (100 points) for a total of 800 points.
As champion, NU took home P340, 000 plus a trophy. Aside from trophies, UST and UP received P200,000 and P140,000 cash prizes, respectively.
For the group stunts category, UST was declared as champion and received a cash prize of P25,000. NU placed second followed by FEU.
Winners for the group stunts were judged based on stunt execution, stunt difficulty and overall performance.
This year麻豆视频 judges were Paula Isabel Nunag, National Cheerleader Championship, Inc. (NCCI) national director; Bernard Daniel Puatu, NCCI director of operations; Celine Tanjuatco, former national gymnastics team member; Elaine Christine Lapuz, NCCI member; Douglas Nierras, Whiplash choreographer; Angela Lawenko-Baguilat, College of Music faculty and UP Dance Company associate artistic director; Kevin Chang, Chinese Taipei Gymnastics Association president; Wilson Ong and Nancy Crowe.
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