McKenna Ross

GCU Dance coach Jacque Genung-Koch said it was “pretty exciting and super humbling” when her team won the Division I Game Day competition Friday in the Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championships at Orlando, Fla. “We got the chance to do what we do at home, on a national stage. It was exciting to bring what we are, who we are at GCU, for other teams to see and for a judging panel,” she said. The team also finished second in the jazz competition.

The GCU dance team gained the respect of peer teams, via the Spirit Award, while learning 38 new dances and serving as ambassadors for each other and God. Eight members of the team took part in the United Spirit Association (USA) camp in Las Vegas and all 32 dancers participated in the United Dance Association (UDA) camp at the University of California-Santa Barbara. “We want to be ambassadors of our school, ambassadors of our faith, ambassadors of one another,” said Dance Coach Jacque Genung-Koch. “This is something I am most proud about. We built relationships. The instructors told me that our dancers inspired others. It was encouraging to be is shining for everyone else.”