Sammy Bearkat had the room roaring with spirit Friday and this time, he wasn’t even in Sam Houston State University territory. Sammy and members of Spirit Programs made their way to Daytona Beach, Florida last weekend to participate in the National Cheerleading Association national competition, placing third overall among sixteen universities.
For the competition, all mascots were asked to submit a video of their performances at games and crowd interaction. Five universities advanced to the finals in the video contest with Sammy taking third place.
“I put in a video bid and I was really excited I was able to do that,” Sammy Bearkat said. “It was made around ‘Everyone Loves Tom Cruise.’ It started off with Sammy and ‘Everyone Loves Raymond’ and then we added Tom Cruise. I guess the judges really liked it.”
Each university mascot also performed a live skit for the judges. Sammy incorporated Guitar Hero and streamers into his performance, wowing the audience.
“My skit was about Sammy coming down from 2052 and letting us know what to expect in the future,” he said. “We showed how Lindsay Lohan will look in 44 years and cut to a picture of a lunch lady. Everyone thought it was pretty funny.”
The energetic display earned Sammy third-place overall, beating out universities such as Purdue University, New York University and West Point.
“I thought it was judged fairly,” he said. “I could have gone to the United Cheerleaders Association competition but I felt there were more mascots to compete against at NCA. We worked really hard on this.”