Feb. 6, 2008

KENNESAW, Ga. - The Kennesaw State competitive cheer team will be heading out to Nevada on Friday to compete in the 2008 West Coast Championship at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas.

The Owls travel to the Silver State looking to repeat as champions. Kennesaw State will compete against San Diego State University, who finished second behind the Owls in the 2007 WCC, Oregon, Southern California, UC Santa Barbara among many others.

"I have been so excited to get this team on the competition floor since the beginning of the season...they are extremely talented and are great performers," said head coach Felecia Mulkey. "Our goal is always to hit the routine and then let the judges make the final decision. I think if we can nail it, we will do well in Vegas."

29 of the team's 33 athletes will compete this weekend, 15 of those being rookies. The squad's performance will be a variation of the routine that they will take to the national championship in April, which will be cut down to 20 members.

The team will be scored on a two and a half minute routine of choreographed stunts, tumbling and dance. The judges will be looking for difficulty, execution, and cleanliness in each category of the routine.

"We are very excited about going to Vegas," said junior Carrie Schrock. "We have a really strong group of girls and we work well together and are excited about going to the west coast to represent KSU the best that we can."

The squad will leave campus around 5:30 am on Friday and will practice Friday night and Saturday morning before the preliminaries on Sunday afternoon. The finals will be contested early Monday afternoon.

You can catch the Owls in action next weekend, February 15-17, at CheerSport inside the World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta.