No typhoon could sway the heart-stopping pyramids and gut-wrenching stunts of the University of the Cordilleras as they ruled the elimination round of the college level in the 4th Baguio Cheerdance Festival 2008 Super Moves Grand Showdown last Aug. 23 at the jampacked Atrium of SM City Baguio.

So overwhelming was UC’s routine that it left visiting pep squads from San Fernando City, La Union gasping for the other three slots with St. Louis University College of Engineering and Architecture salvaging the fifth and   final slot to the grand finals.

Defending champion UC, last year’s 98th Baguio Day champion,  raked in a total of 97.17 points from the judges with Union Christian College fini-shing second garnering 89.33 points.

Panagbenga 2008 Globe cheerfest champion Lorma Colleges finished third place with 88 points with newcomer St. Louis College at fourth place with 83.17 points.

Baguio College of Technology, a newcomer, learned a lot after virtually preparing for two weeks only after regular competitors National University and   Easter College skipped this year’s contest.

Benguet State University-College of Nursing, crowd favorite and last year’s se-cond runner-up Philippine Military Academy, and Cordillera Career Development College howed tremendous improvements from previous editions but failed to qualify for the top five slots.

SLU - College of Nursing did not appear for unknown reasons.

The grandfinals was being held at the Atrium as of press time.

In the high school division, defending champion Baguio City National High School-Main led the secondary level  together with another newcomer from La Union — BHC Educational Institution, surprise finalist BCNHS-Rizal Annex, Pines City National High School, and another newcomer, Benguet State University High School.

After the elimination rounds of the two levels, organizers voted BCNHS-Roxas Annex as this year’s first recipient of the Sportsmanship Cup for its display of courage and talent despite its meager resources. Roxas annex, despite a sorry defeat, losing by a mere .33 points to BSU “...displayed the true essence of sportsmanship on and off the mats.”

The top five pep squads from both le-vels were assured of P3,000 each and will cheer their way to the P20,000 grand prize presented by SM City Baguio in cooperation with Globe Telecom, City Government of Baguio, Megalopolis, M. Lhuiller,  FRB Foundation, Baguio-Benguet Green Meadows Foundation, Musar Music Corporation, Botak, Sizzling Plate and supported in part by Golden Pine Hotel, Jack’s Restaurant, Quezon Elementary School, Baguio Central School, and Com-Plex Computers.

The first and se-cond runners-up will receive P15,000 and P10,000, respectively, while the third and fourth runners-up will receive P5,000 each.

Best team captains were also chosen together with minor awards for best in uniform.

An elementary level cheerfest is being slated by October for both private and public schools.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Warriors took some time out from their studies to take on each other in the cheering contests of the UB Science High School.

Despite their busy academic schedules, the high school students spent weeks for designs to ensure an almost life-size dragon mascot as its centerpiece in its yearly sportsfest.

The Guardian Dragons, according to the students, are given the task to protect the elements of water, air, fire, and earth and the additional dragons are for other living things.

The cheering started off with the grand cheer of all the teams including Black Zohak, Yellow Quasar, Blue Rinjins, Green Wyvern, Purple Zavioth, and the Red Parsec.