DENVER — Rooting on the Montana Grizzlies all season long has been the UM Dance Team, a program that itself has skyrocketed over the past few years.
Now the UMDT is ready to perform on the big stage at the Big Dance.
"I'm over the moon as everyone else on our team is," senior Ashley Miller said. "It's really exciting to see people on your team succeed, and everyone wants the Griz to win."
The dance team is out to support Griz athletics all season along, but no stage may be bigger than the one they'll experience Thursday for the first time for each member.
They'll perform at Ball Arena, the home of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, in front of the bright lights of the NCAA tournament as it officially gets under way.
"This is such an incredible opportunity for all of us. We're doing it for the team," junior Lily Halvorson said. "We're doing it for the graduates before us that couldn't get a chance to go. We're mostly just excited to showcase our skills and just be here to support the team. Our team this year is really strong and really just a supportive group of girls."
Like athletics, the UMDT puts in countless hours behind the scenes.
Last year, it broke through in a big way by qualifying for the College Classic National Championship, a first for a college dance team in the state of Montana.
This year, it qualified again, with eyes set on bigger goals when it competes again at nationals in April.
"I think the thing that I'm most excited about for that is just being able to prove ourselves once again," Halvorson said. "Being a second year, there's a little bit more pressure to be, you know, just as good, if not better as last year. But we're really excited it's going to be a lot of fun."
So the crowd and viewers for one of the largest spectacles in sports is an exciting and new reward as the team continues to push itself to new heights.
"It's just so cool to see. We have a lot more people with their eyes on our team, a lot more people wanting to come here," Miller added. "People see us. For a long time I feel like we had so much talent just hidden in Montana and so it's nice to be able to put that on the stage and have more eyes on us, have more talent coming to us."
The girls have enjoyed these special rides alongside one another and the journey it has created.
They support and represent the Griz, and the exposure has grown. In return, they are appreciated by those they root and perform for.
"We get to hear it so much more when we're at these events where the Griz community is traveling to support other Grizzly athletics and all that kind of stuff," Miller said. "So being able to be here with Griz fans, feel that community and have them say they're proud of us, there's nothing more heart warming."
