Fresno State Athletics
TimeOut Honored at Cheer Competition
3/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | General
March 24, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - Bulldog Mascot TimeOut is without a doubt a huge asset to Fresno State athletics and is arguably the best Bulldog mascot in the country. TimeOut is at every athletic event and is a crowd pleaser no matter what the score may be. Whether it's pestering and playing pranks on opposing coaches, players and officials or joking with fans, TimeOut sets a positive mood in the most hostile and competitive atmospheres.
Recently, TimeOut, along with the Fresno State competition cheer squad, got the opportunity to go to Anaheim, Calif., where schools from around the country gathered to battle it out for the 2010 United Spirit Association's Collegiate Cheerleading Championships.
As a team, the Fresno State cheer squad had a solid performance recording a sixth place overall finish in the "All-Girl Show Cheer" category.
In the mascot competition, teams are to come up with a skit that closely relates to their school and act it out in front of the audience and multiple judges. The competition is scored over two rounds, a preliminary round followed by finals.
Over the two rounds, each team is allowed to use whatever props they choose along with background music to enhance their storyline. The catch is that the entire cheer team is limited to vocally supporting since the only person allowed to act out the skit is the mascot.
Throughout the skit the judges accumulate a given score on the creativity of the storyline, the presence of humor within the script, positive crowd reaction, how well the skit flows, and whether or not they feel it relates to your school and mascot.
For TimeOut's skit, the Bulldog cheer squad put together a script in which TimeOut was competing in a dog competition, like the ones seen on television, against the likes of famous cartoon dogs Snoopy, Scooby Doo and Underdog.
In the competition, TimeOut carried a card board cut-out picture of each opponent cartoon dog and strolled out one at a time dancing to the famous music from each cartoon show. At the end of the act, TimeOut was awarded first place out of the four dogs and danced around celebrating to the Fresno State fight song.
After the preliminary round of competition, TimeOut was scored in seventh place and was on the outside looking in as far as a podium finish was concerned with the top four positions being trophy spots.
"I knew that TimeOut still had a shot at placing in the top four after the first round," said spirit squad member Kellie Henderson.
At the end of the finals round, the judges lined up all of the contestants and named off the top four finishers from fourth place to the winner the same way they would do in a Miss America Pageant.
"The award ceremony was the best part of it for me," said Henderson. "TimeOut was in seventh after the preliminary round and I knew that there was really good chance TimeOut would get at least fourth."
When the judges came up and announced New Mexico State in fourth place the Fresno State spirit squad immediately thought that the chances of TimeOut finishing in a trophy position were over.
"I thought fourth was the best that TimeOut would do," said Henderson. "So when the judges announced New Mexico State in fourth I thought to myself, oh well there is always next year."
Next came the big surprise for TimeOut and the Bulldog spirit squad. The judges asked for the drum roll and announced Fresno State and TimeOut as the third place finisher.
"I was so excited when I heard the judges announce that TimeOut was third," said Henderson. "It was a huge surprise and when they announced TimeOut in third and brought out the huge trophy I was in complete shock! It was amazing!"
The skit performance in the final round was crucial in boosting TimeOut up in the standings from seventh place all the way to third place getting TimeOut in a coveted trophy spot on what was a great weekend for the `Dogs cheer squad and TimeOut.
"We had a lot of fun," said Henderson. "This was our first time doing anything like this so I didn't know what to expect but it was truthfully a great time and I am very happy TimeOut got a trophy."
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