University of Kentucky Dance Team

• Dance Places Seventh at the 2009 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championships

UK Welcomes Dawn Duncan Walters as the New Dance Team Coach

Dawn Duncan Walters takes over as head coach of the University of Kentucky Dance Team after a long history with the University. Walters was a member of both the dance team and cheerleading squad while she was a student at Kentucky (1984-87). As a freshman, she was a member of the Dance Cat team, but joined the cheerleaders for the remainder of her collegiate career. Walters helped begin the Kentucky cheerleading tradition as an integral part of Kentucky's first two UCA national championship teams in 1985 and 1987. Walters continued her career with the Wildcats coaching the UK Danzers, a student organization, for eight years. The UK Danzers won the 1995 National Dance Alliance Collegiate National Championship under Walters.

Walters currently owns her own company, Cheers! Inc., a competition and consulting company. Cheers! Inc. provides a number of cheer and dance services including marketing and promotional tools, music editing, and motivational speaking. With Cheers! Inc., Walters organizes and coordinates the annual Cheers! for the Holidays Cheer and Dance Competition and Cheers! For the New Year Cheer and Dance Competition.

A native Lexington, Ky., Walters has a son, Christopher Walters.

2009-10 Rosters

Blue Team

Danielle Antis
Lindsay Buehner
Whitley Edge
Caitlin Guidry
Regan Judd
Allyssa Hrabik
Tara Kleinhenz
Mikayla Mandell
Erica Maryman
Courtney Neuberg
Kaitlyn Otey
Crystal Patrick
Emily Pena
Shanel Perry
Kelley Price
Randi Swarts
Alex Solomon
Allyson Sparks
Caitlyn Trent

White Team 

Jessica Bamey
Libby Cummins
Carolyn Drury
Lauren Fannin
Alayna Gathy
Amy Mayer
Brooke Meeks
Roya Ramezankhani
Alexandra Redmond
Alexa Singleton
Brittany Smith
Hannah Tiberghein
Stephanie West
Heather Wooldridge
Kayla Zarecky

Randi Bishop Wins Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Contest

In a national search for the university program with the most school spirit, Athlon Sports has announced Randi Bishop, a senior at the University of Kentucky, as the winner of its 2008 Sideline Spirit Contest presented by JVC. Over 2.1 million total votes were cast for the contestants, who represented 28 different colleges and universities from all major conferences. Bishop, a member of the dance team, won the Grand Prize after receiving over 232,000 final round votes.

The University of Kentucky dance team will receive $1000 in cash, a JVC 42" LCD TV with an integrated iPod dock, a JVC HD Everio camcorder, a JVC Everio hybrid camcorder, and a JVC Mini System with built-in iPod dock. Bishop will receive national exposure in her own photo spread, which will be featured in the 2009 Athlon Sports College Football annuals.

This was the fifth year for The Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Contest and is the second time the University of Kentucky has been named the winner. Previous winners include: West Virginia University, University of Nebraska, and the University of North Texas. This year's sponsor, JVC, added broad national exposure and promotion for this competition along with innovative technology products for the winning program.

The four-round competition featured seven cheerleaders or dancers in each round (one from each BCS conference and one non-BCS representative). Voters had the opportunity to show their school spirit by selecting their favorite spirit contestant. This year, a new Facebook voting application helped bring out the very best in school spirit and the rivalry of college sports. Once again, the Sideline Spirit Contest has proved to be one of the most popular programs on Athlon Sports' website.

Again we congratulate Randi Bishop and the University of Kentucky and look forward to next year's competition.