UK Cheerleading ended its weekend in Orlando, Fla. victorious as the team secured its 22nd national championship at the Universal Cheerleaders Association competition.

“I couldn’t be happier,” cheer team head coach Jomo Thompson said. “Our preparation went very well and we performed at a high level. Our emphasis (leading up to the competition) was doing our best and if we trusted in the process it would lead us to the championship.”

The Cats earned the hardware with a near perfect performance, scoring a 97.8 out of 100 to beat out the rest of the Division IA coed squads. 

“This is the highest degree of difficulty we’ve ever had,” Thompson said. “We added more acrobatic skills and more handstands, a good blend of cheers and acro. We executed it at a very high level, near perfect, I was very happy about that.”

With fellow league members Alabama in second place and Ole Miss at third, the competition was also a chance for the SEC to earn some bragging rights.

The national title win this season gives UK back-to-back championships for the first time since  2008-10 when the team won three straight. The program won its first national championship in 1985 and has now gone on to win a total of 22 in the following 33 years.

The dance team also competed alongside the cheerleaders in Orlando, as they participated in two of the three events possible in the Universal Dance Association competition. The team was edged out of first place by two-hundredths of a point to Cincinnati in the Division IA hip-hop competition and also finished fourth in the pom event behind Minnesota, Ohio State and Iowa.

“Our performance in hip-hop was incredible,” dance team coach Dawn Walters said. “The girls did everything they could. It was a pretty spotless routine. It was an emotional piece — an a capella song by Pentatonix — different, and very moving. The fans absolutely loved it, so many people told us how awesome it was.”

Both the cheerleaders and the dance team will be honored in Rupp Arena Saturday during the UK men’s basketball’s game against the South Carolina Gamecocks.