Raising the standard: The work behind the Sugar Mocs’ nationals run

On most college football Saturdays in the fall, while much of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus is settling into a game-day routine, members of the Sugar Mocs are already hours into theirs.

They practiced that morning. They will spend the afternoon on the sideline at Finley Stadium. And when the game ends, there is often more waiting for the next rehearsal and the next week, when it all starts again.

Senior Rosie Ritchie said that rhythm has defined much of her four years at UTC.

“We have our normal practices twice a week that are two hours long,” said Ritchie, a political science major from Clarksville, Tennessee, with a minor in criminal justice. “We have those every single week, no matter if it’s football or basketball or if we’re in nationals season.”

During the football season, those Saturdays often stretch into full days with tailgates and pregame activities.

Basketball season brings a different kind of grind with more games, more nights on campus and more adjustments to an already packed academic schedule.

“We’re all full-time students, so we’re doing the same amount of work as any other student,” Ritchie said. “When you’re going to games two or three times a week that can take up your whole night, it requires a whole lot of time management.”

For head coach Ashli Brown, a UTC alum who began coaching at her alma mater in 2007, the emphasis is always on balance.

“Academics first,” she tells her team. “You’re there to get a degree. I have a degree and I wouldn’t be where I am without it today.”

Ritchie sees that priority reflected in the team’s classroom performance.

“I think the cheer and dance teams have done a really good job of being student-athletes,” she said. “Our GPA has always been really good. Everyone’s on top of their schoolwork.”

The Sugar Mocs are part of the Mocs Spirit Squad, which also includes cheerleaders and mascot Scrappy.

Together, they support football, men’s and women’s basketball and other athletic programs. They perform at timeouts and intermissions, appear at pep rallies and campus events, and represent UTC in the community—from school visits and hospital appearances to Reading Across America programs.

“If you can think of it, we probably get asked to do it,” Brown said.

That visibility is the part most people see. What they do not see is the second layer that begins each September and builds toward nationals season.

Each January, collegiate dance programs from across the country travel to Orlando, Florida, for the Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Nationals at Walt Disney World Resort. The multi-day competition features preliminary and final rounds, with teams judged on execution, technique, choreography and overall performance. Small deductions can separate teams by fractions of a point, and only the top programs advance to the finals.

This year, that meant early Saturday rehearsals before afternoon basketball tipoffs. It meant Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons in the Aquatic and Recreation Center. It meant spending most of Christmas break in Chattanooga to rehearse while the campus was quiet.

“It takes a lot of extra practice time and effort,” Brown said.

That preparation paid off when the Sugar Mocs returned to Orlando this winter, advanced to the finals and finished third in the UCA/UDA College Open Spirit Game Day Division.

When Ritchie arrived as a freshman, competing at nationals felt like a distant possibility. The program had not been to the national stage since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’d always talked about, ‘Oh, it would be so cool to take the team back to nationals,’” she said.

By her junior year, that conversation became reality. The team returned to the competition in Orlando and finished sixth overall, but did not advance to the finals.

“We just wanted to get there and see what it was like,” Ritchie said. “We were proud just to do that.”

Added Brown, “We learned a lot and we brought that back home for this season to prepare.”

This year, the Sugar Mocs returned to Orlando with a different level of experience.

Twenty-eight athletes took the floor. Twelve, including Ritchie and sophomore Catherine Speights, competed at nationals in 2025 and understood the schedule, scale and stakes.

Speights, a political science major from Ocoee, Tennessee, with a minor in religious studies, joined the Sugar Mocs at a time when going to nationals had become part of the program’s expectations.

She said she knew early on that UTC—the only university she applied to—was the right fit.

“I knew from the second that I stepped on campus for the first time that this is where I wanted to be,” Speights said. “When I made the dance team my senior year of high school, I knew I didn’t want to give up dance after graduating, and that kind of solidified that this is where I was supposed to be.”

Like her teammates, Speights balances classes, practices, games and community appearances. As both a UTC orientation leader and campus tour guide, she is accustomed to speaking up and stepping forward—qualities Brown said carry over into rehearsals.

“She’s always working on something or some way to improve,” Brown said. “She’s not afraid to share, ‘Hey, I think we should be doing this.’”

Speights said that commitment often means additional workouts and time in the gym outside scheduled practices.

“I value the personal gym time for myself,” she said. “I’m in the gym daily, even if it’s not a requirement of the team or practicing.”

She also focuses on helping younger dancers adjust to the demands of college athletics.

“The team camaraderie is very important to me,” Speights said. “It should feel like your extra family, your home away from home.”

Competing at nationals both years she has been on the team has shaped how Speights views the program.

“Every dancer or cheerleader grows up watching UDA nationals and dreaming of being on that stage,” she said. “Being there puts a drive in you to come back and better your own program.

“Our goal was to place in the top three this year and we did that. Now the goal is to win.”

For their coach, the result in Orlando reflected a shift in the team’s mindset.

“Until you’re there and you experience it firsthand, you don’t really know what to expect,” Brown said. “Rosie, Catherine and the other returning dancers helped prepare the younger athletes for what was about to happen.”

“When we medaled, it was like, ‘This is why we’ve been working so hard,” Ritchie said. “Being on the stage when they called our name, I think we were all just relieved to know that the hard work we had put in all year had paid off.”

Dr. Michelle Deardorff, the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Government in UTC’s Department of Political Science and Public Service, has worked with both Ritchie and Speights.

Deardorff said that the balance between passion and performance shows what higher education is meant to provide.

“It is exciting to see students able to follow their passions—both athletically and socially—while being successful in the classroom,” she said. “College is the time when students should be able to explore all aspects of a well-rounded life, building a foundation for the life-long learning mindset we desire for them.”

Brown believes the impact of the podium finish extends beyond a single weekend.

“I do feel like we’re a little bit more on everybody’s radar,” she said. “There is now more of an expectation about the skill set you have to have and the mindset required to compete at this level.”

Interest in clinics and tryouts has grown. So have internal standards.

Still, Brown measures success in more than medals.

“To me, just getting out there in front of 10,000 people or more to perform at nationals … that’s a success,” she said. “I’m there for them and just want to push them to be the best athletes they can be.”

For Ritchie, the experience has shaped her beyond the dance floor. She plans to attend law school and sees a direct connection between her political science studies and her time with the team.

“In political science, I do a lot of speaking,” she said. “I think being able to stand in front of people and be confident in yourself is a really good character trait to have. Being on the dance team and performing in front of people several times a week has really grown my confidence.”

Brown calls Ritchie “the light of the team,” describing her as a steady presence during demanding rehearsals and packed game schedules.

“That means a lot to me,” Ritchie said. “I just try to bring positivity and keep the mood up so that it’s not too stressful for people.”

As she prepares to graduate in May, Ritchie hopes younger dancers carry forward one lesson in particular.

“I don’t think I would have thought my freshman year that we could have medaled at nationals,” she said. “But it was a goal that we had and we worked for it. Any goal, even if it seems crazy, can be achieved if you work hard enough.”

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