Kentucky cheerleading poised to add to prestigious history at national competition
Kentucky is looking this weekend for a return to the top of collegiate cheerleading, a position the Wildcats know well.
The Wildcats, winners of 24 national titles, have finished third the past two years at the Universal Cheerleaders Association college nationals. They’ll compete Friday through Sunday at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, hoping to set things right.
UK’s most recent national championship came in 2019, which was the Wildcats’ fourth in a row. UK won its first title in 1985 and won a school-record eight straight from 1995 to 2002.
Last year’s third-place finish in Cheer Division IA came under the direction of then-new head coach Ryan Martin O’Connor, but O’Connor still oversaw a title for the program in 2021.
Kentucky won the Division IA Game Day Cheer national championship, a competition that UK competed in virtually last year. That title was the first such championship in school history.
O’Connor — a Lexington native who cheered for UK and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School — said both a blue and white squad will represent UK at this year’s championships, the first time UK has brought two teams to compete in person.
“We are a really young team when you look at the amount of people that have competed in person for Kentucky at this competition. It’s a small number,” said O’Connor, who took over the program after longtime coach Jomo Thompson was fired following a school investigation into the cheer team’s conduct. “But I think just having such strong leaders that have helped prepare us, I think that’s why we feel so confident. We trust their leadership, we trust the coaching staff and just trust that we’re in a good spot.”
The path toward a second national title in the game-day division will begin Friday afternoon when the white squad begins its competition.
“The game day is kind of like it sounds, it’s showcasing our traditions,” O’Connor said of the three-minute routine. “We do our fight song. We do a sideline that the announcer chooses, so we don’t know what it is until we get out there . . . and then a timeout routine that you might see us do on the sidelines at football or at a basketball game.”
The path toward a 25th national championship in the traditional cheer division will begin Saturday morning when the blue squad begins its competition.
“I would say it’s focused more on athleticism,” O’Connor said of the two-and-a-half-minute routine. “It’s stuff that you don’t get to see all the time at games because we’re more focused on leading the crowd and doing our drops in those venues. But here we get to show a little bit more of our athleticism.”
O’Connor said several team members — including seniors Maddie Hayes and Luke Prothro — are participating on both the blue and white squads.
“We know each other. We know our strengths, we know our weaknesses and we know how to play to each other’s best parts,” Prothro said.
“I just think we have an extreme amount of confidence this year going into this weekend,” added Hayes. “We’ve put in all the work and all the reps and everything here in Lexington. I think we’re just ready. We trust each other.”
The UK program has had more opportunities to perform and practice this season compared to last season amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Senior Daniel Fleharty said that last year the team went weeks without practicing due to COVID-19 issues causing team members to fluctuate.
O’Connor said the program is 100% vaccinated.
“Our team feels like we’re mentally prepared and mentally strong and physically,” Fleharty said. “We’ve performed multiple times, we’ve had countless hours of practice and I think we’re ready to get down there and get the job done.”
UK dance team also to compete
In addition to UK cheerleading, the UK dance team will also be competing at this weekend’s national championships in Orlando.
The UK dance team will perform in the game-day division on Friday at around 12:30 p.m., and finals will take place Friday evening.
On Saturday, Kentucky will perform in the hip-hop portion of the competition at around 1:30 p.m. with finals for hip-hop taking place Sunday evening.
Kentucky finished second in both the game day and hip-hop competitions last year, which were the best finishes in program history.
Dawn Walters is the head coach of the UK dance team and is in her 13th season in the role.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 1:39 PM.
