Cheerleading 2012 Season Outlook

2012-13 Cheerleading Preview

The 2012-2013 Wilmington University cheerleading squad began its quest to defend its UCA National Championship by attending UCA cheer camp at the University of Scranton in August.  Each year the team attends a camp during the summer to bring the new team closer together and learn new skills.  This year’s camp was very successful as they placed first and second in the sideline and cheer competitions against University of Delaware, Villanova University, Hofstra University and the Naval Academy.

With the start of the new academic year in September the cheerleaders were hard at work both in the classroom and out in the community.  The year really kicked off with a performance at the University’s first Homecoming and first event at their new athletic complex.  They were also able to get out in the community by participating in the annual Light the Night walk, Wilmington Kidney Walk and Sea Witch Parade.  The team also helped kick off basketball season by performing at the annual Hoopfest event in October.  This gave them a great opportunity to get in front of a large home crowd and use video from their performance for their crowd tape needed to compete at Nationals in January.

In addition to their preparation for UCA nationals in January, the team’s primary goal is supporting the men’s and women’s basketball teams at the University.  The team is looking forwarding to providing both teams with home-court advantage at all of their home games this season.  The cheer team will also be visible at many public relation events throughout the state this coming year.

Along with the team competing in January, for the first time in program history three partner stunt groups have been invited to compete for an individual national championship title!  Those partner stunt groups along with the team will be working hard to learn and perfect their routines.

The 2012-2013 cheerleading team is led by Graduate student captains, Brad Gilbert and Ashley Unruh.   Brad and Ashley both have very good leadership experience and are ready to motivate the team to work towards their team and individual goals set at the beginning of the season.  This year’s team also returns a large group of veterans including Mary Alexander, Angelina Connuli, Amanda Endicott, Sean Gomes, Derek Haines, Kelly Holdren, Gabby Mattera, Nicole Rehbach, and Devin Velli.  This year’s transfers and freshman include David Bellew, Pete Burnham, Corinne Carney, Ariel Ellixson, Alexis Hazel, Rebecca Hitchens, Asia Mincey, Katrina Rockwell, Natalie Spiker and Malayia Voss.

The Wilmington University Cheer team has a very exciting season ahead of them!  The talent and experience possessed by this team will definitely lead them in the right direction for the coming years.