At WSU, the football team may have sucked last season and the basketball team may have disappointed, but the energetic women who cheer them on have won their own national competition.
Members of the WSU dance team perform during a basketball game in 2008. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)The Crimson Girls, Washington State University’s dance team, performed the winning two-minute routine (see video below) last month at the 2012 USA Collegiate Hip-Hop Dance Competition in Anaheim, Calif. Decked out in black boots and vests, jean cut-offs and Cougar tank tops, the Wazzu women beat schools like Missouri (second place) and San Diego State (third place) to take home the trophy.
“They hit all the beats. They had energy,” Crimson Girls head coach Maggie Kazemba said in a WSU announcement. “As soon as they finished, I thought, ‘We could actually win this.’”
The dance team is part of WSU’s Spirit Program, along with the cheerleaders and mascot Butch T. Cougar. Aside from competing nationally, the Crimson Girls also cheer and perform at football, basketball and other Cougar games. To make the trip to Anaheim, the Crimson Girls raised money by giving dance clinics to younger students, WSU said.
They performed their winning routine to a mash-up of eight hip-hop songs, including the track “Go Cougs” by rapper E-Drid, an understandably popular tune in Pullman written by 2005 graduate Erik Madrid.
“Everything came together and we clicked,” assistant coach Jenny Gudgel said. “By the time we heard the music’s words about the Cougs and the Palouse, I just knew we were going to win.”
Here’s a video of the Crimson Girls’ winning routine. More performances from the competition, including teams from the University of Oregon, Idaho State University and Brigham Young University (really?), can be viewed at Varsity.com.
Go Cougs!
Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle news. Contact Nick Eaton at nickeaton@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @njeaton.
No comments:
Post a Comment