NU Pep flawlessly succeeds in four-peat bid

By Ivan Saldajeno

QUEZON CITY—The NU Pep Squad cropped its fourth consecutive UAAP cheerdance title after wowing 17,850 people at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with a flawless stunt on Saturday night.

NU Pep's cyborg-inspired performance garnered 711 out of a possible 800 points from the judges, which was more than enough to best six other competing teams.

NU Pep also vindicated itself from a controversial result in last year's edition, where the team won it all despite big falls, which was protested to no avail by eventual third placer UP Pep Squad, which begged off this year.

The Adamson Pep Squad, which also performed a clean Hawaiian-inspired stunt, would be this year's bronze medalist after getting 655 points.

Meanwhile, the FEU Cheering Squad won a tight battle between Adamson Pep and the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe for second place with 658.5 points.

Salinggawi fell out of the podium after only getting 650 points.

The UE Pep Squad closely follows in fifth with 645 points, while the De La Salle Animo Squad (560.5) and the Ateneo Blue Babble Battalion (512) are sixth and seventh respectively.

NU Pep won a total of PHP445 thousand for grabbing all the marbles while winning PHP75 thousand more for having the best toss and best pyramid.

FEUCS and Adamson Pep, on the other hand, won PHP225 thousand and PHP160 thousand respectively for the runner-up finishes.

NU Pep would complete a cheerdance double as the team also won the group stunt contest after topping the five-team field with 249 out of a possible 400 points.

NU's group stunt quintet walked home PHP25 thousand richer.

Salinggawi was second with 229 points, while FEUCS ranked third with 204.

Adamson took fourth place with 198 points, while UE Pep settled for fifth with 192.

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