PROVO -- The BYU Cougarettes danced their way to a fifth national title and first-ever USA Collegiate Dance Nationals championship Feb. 6-7 at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
The 18-member dance team finished ahead of San Diego State (second) and the University of Arizona (third).
This year marks the first time the Cougarettes have participated in the USA Collegiate Dance Nationals, competing in the Open Dance Category in the 4-Year Large College Division. Since 1997, the Cougarettes have won four National Dance Alliance (NDA) titles.
Cougarettes artistic director Jodi Maxfield said the competition was a good way to prepare for the NDA Collegiate Dance Nationals in April, a much larger and more difficult competition.
"We were hoping this would be kind of a precursor for the NDA national competition in April," Maxfield said. "We won't perform the same routine at NDA competition. The dance requirements and criteria will be much more strict."
Due to BYU's policy on Sunday competition, tournament officials allowed the Cougarettes to perform their preliminary routine on Monday. Although they struggled with some minor mistakes, they scored high enough to qualify for the final competition.
Credited with outstanding technique, turns, style, costuming and choreography during the final competition, the Cougarettes received almost all superior scores from the panel of seven judges.
According to Maxfield, who is in her 14th year at the Cougarettes' helm, the dance team performed well, despite being distracted with preparations for their upcoming dance concert in March.
"One of the biggest things we received critiques from the judges for was tightening up our turns and matching our individual performances," Maxfield said. "We spent a lot less time preparing for this than we would the NDA competition."
The Cougarettes have dominated the collegiate-dancing world since 1997, placing first at the NDA Collegiate Nationals in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001. They placed second in 2003 and missed a first-place finish in 2000 by .02 points.
The Cougarettes will be performing their winning routine Monday, Feb. 14 at the BYU-CSU basketball halftime show.