INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines--Defending champion Jose Rizal U and three-time winner Perpetual have emerged as heavy favorites in this season?s NCAA cheerleading competition happening on Wednesday at the Arena in San Juan.

JRU is aiming for a back-to-back title, following last year?s upset over the Altas Perpsquad who held the title from 2005-2007. The Mapua Cheerping Cardinals ended up as second runner-up while CSB Pep Squad placed third last season.

?Win or lose, we are happy because we are friends with JRU. We just want to show everybody that Perpetual?s reign is not yet over,? said Ruf Vandolph Rosario, who?s been coaching the Perpsquad since 2006.

Rosario said their tosses, which led them in winning the National Cheerleading Championship finals last March 2009, remains their edge against other teams. In that competition, they won over reigning UAAP cheerdance champions Far Eastern University and last year?s winner University of the Philippines.

?We performed the most difficult tosses and not only one can do the toss but around three-nine of my cheerleaders can do such,? said Rosario.

For this season, the NCAA tapped the NCC as a partner organization for the competition. The champions would take home P90,000 while the second and third runner-ups will win P55,000 and P45,000, respectively, courtesy of Samsung.

?This year would be different from the past competitions. It?s something most people haven?t seen yet. It would definitely be a production,? said NCAA management committee chair Jose Mari Lacson.

Lacson also promised that it would be different from the cheerdance competition in the UAAP, which drew about 20,000 audience in the Araneta last month.

?We would be employing international standards in judging the competition based on American cheerleading competitions,? said NCC national director and head coach Paula dela Llana-Nunag, adding, ?We want to show the scientific side of cheerleading as a sport and not just for entertainment.?

Nunag will act as head judge and penalty judge along with seven members of the NCC.

?Aside from the usual pyramids, stunts, tosses, tumbling, and dance motions, there will be a live cheer portion. The scoring system will also be different,? said Nunag.

Cheerdance started as an exhibition sport in the NCAA in 2004.

?We wanted to make cheerleading as a permanent and regular sport next year and it would also be added in the tabulation of the overall scores of each school,? said Lacson.

Prior to Wednesday?s competition, the NCC conducted a cheerleading camp in October 18 at the Emilio Aguinaldo College Gym to prepare the participants.

?We wanted to instill to the NCAA campers the basic skills of cheerleading such as jumps, stunts, and tosses to make sure that they know the basics and to ensure their safety in case of falls,? said Nunag.