Sugar Bears to compete for national honors

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Missouri State University Sugar Bears dance team will compete at the 2025 UDA National Championship here, Friday through Sunday (Jan. 17-19). The national event is held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The Sugar Bears will compete in the DI Jazz and Pom events at this year’s championships.

The semifinal round of the DI Pom competition begins for Missouri State on Friday at 2:20 p.m. (Central), where the Sugar Bears are fighting for a place in Saturday night’s final. The top 10 teams advance from the semi-finals to the final.

Missouri State’s 2024 routine for the Pom event was choreographed by Maddy Robinson.

In the DI Jazz, Missouri State will compete in the preliminary round on Friday with a performance at 5:12 p.m. (Central) as they work toward a top-20 finish in Saturday’s semifinals, with the top 11 advancing to Sunday’s finals at 11 a.m.

This year’s Jazz routine was choreographed by Nyah Gonzalez.

Video footage of this year’s competition can again be viewed on Tv.Varsity.com with Twitter (X) live coverage at @UDANews.

“We are excited to bring our Pom and Jazz routines to the Nationals stage this year,” said the Sugar Bears coach Emily Dryden. “It has been a season full of new things: budding relationships with new choreographers, eight newbies and new skills that we will debut in this competition.

“We are ready to show our hard work and go out with a bang in our final season competing in Division I at the UDA Nationals. The move to Conference USA next year will push us up the Division 1A ranks and we are excited to even more new things ahead.”

Dryden is assisted by Mariah McElmurry.

Last year, the Sugar Bears finished 16th in Pom on the big stage in Orlando, while finishing 25th in Jazz.

The prestigious competition, which showcases the nation’s best college cheerleaders, dance team performers and mascots, is in its 42nd year.

 

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