A spectacle of authority and fierceness summed up Arellano University's championship-winning routine in the NCAA Season 99 Cheerleading Competition, claiming a rare fifth straight crown in the season-ending contest on Wednesday.
Coach Lucky San Juan, who has been calling the shots since 2012, said they opted to go with a police-themed performance to mirror the personality of his wards, whom he said are fearless and ready to show what the AU Chiefsquad is made of.
"Actually ‘yung inspiration namin is police kasi tingin ko dapat parang mas matapang, ayon ‘yung tingin ko sa personality nila," San Juan told GMA News Online.
"Then ayon ‘yung theme namin then at the same time, kapag pulis ka, ayaw mong magpapahuli, ikaw ‘yung manghuhuli."
(Our inspiration is police because it's strong, which I think matches their personalities. At the same time, if you're the police, you're the one who will catch instead of being caught on.)
That proved to be the case as Arellano captured the crown for the fifth straight season since Season 92, collecting a total of 253.5 points to rule the 10-team field.
University of Perpetual Help System DALTA and Colegio de San Juan de Letran emerged as the runners-up with 231.5 and 206 markers, respectively.
"Then sa performance naman namin, masasabi kong super deserving sila ng first place kasi kahit isang araw na lang na ipapahinga nila ay ipa-practice pa nila. Naging matured sila and talagang ayaw nila magpatalo," San Juan added.
(In our performance, I can say that they are very deserving of the first place because even if they only had just one day of rest, they still practiced. They were matured and they did not want to lose.)
Arellano, though, will look to continue their dynasty in the coming seasons despite bidding goodbye to a half of the team with players who are either graduating or overage when the next edition kicks off next year.
However, San Juan said everything will boil down to proper management of the players and the team.
"Sa program talaga siya, then ‘yung how to manage ‘yung mga bata and everything. And may mga talents naman kami sa Team B," he added.
(It's really in the program, how to manage them and everything. We also have talents in Team B.)
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
