Track steals the show at 13th annual JayRock
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Donning all-black jumpsuits and white masks, the Kansas track & field team put together the winning performance at the 13th annual JayRock Variety Show – a choreographed dance routine that would have made the JabbaWocKeeZ envious.
Feeling like their routine from a year ago should have won the previous JayRock competition, the track athletes were determined to take the title this year for the “Jayhawks Got Talent” themed show, and did so by opening its performance with Beyoncé’s “Formation” and ending with an ode to last year’s winner – softball – by copying part of their winning “High School Musical” bit.
Track’s dance not only won over the night’s judges – Associate Director – Tutoring Program Cote Smith, Graduate Assistant for Sport Performance Caryn Bailey and Associate Athletics Director for Jayhawk Peak Performance, Scott Ward – but also won a fan vote of those in attendance. The final winner was ultimately determined by a combination of the two votes and a third factor – a penny wars competition put on by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in the week leading up to the show.
In total, SAAC raised more than $600 in its penny wars competition, with all money being donated to the American Red Cross and UNICEF emergency & disaster relief efforts.
Other impressive performances included Kansas baseball’s “Songs We Know How to Play” band, fronted by Jaxx Groshans who sang his best version of Howie Day’s “Collide” while being backed by live guitars, keyboards, percussion and a line of Jayhawk freshman baseball players as the backup singers.
Women’s basketball performed a dance routine taken out of the movie “White Chicks” that had the crowd entertained, rowing displayed their artistic talents with members teaming together to hand paint a Jayhawk and men’s golf had two freshman members square-off in a race to prove who was more loved by the Jayhawk student-athlete community.
Five teams contributed to the fun with video submissions. The swimming & diving team created their own special version of SportsCenter’s “Not Top 10,” tennis added a skills video, women’s golf filmed a montage of trick shots, softball recorded their own version of Anna Kendrick’s “Cups” from the move “Pitch Perfect” and soccer spoofed YouTube celebrity group “Dude Perfect” with a “Chick Perfect” trick shot video of their own.
The night’s emcee – Voice of the Jayhawks Brian Hanni – pumped up the crowd to start the show by introducing the night’s first act, the spirit squad who displayed an impressive routine dance routine with a guest appearance from Kansas football punter Cole Moos, who also contributed to the high-flying action.
Since its inception in 2006. JayRock has gained momentum as one of the best things about being a Jayhawk. For the first three years, the bragging rights for JayRock victory were contained within the confines of Kansas Athletics.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
