Little Jay and Big Jay appear during Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 12, 2007, at Allen Fieldhouse. The Kansas University mascot will participate in a national contest in January.

Apparently it’s not just Jayhawk fans who really love Big Jay.

The Kansas University mascot has earned the right to participate in a national competition in Orlando, Fla., for the first time.

To earn a trip to the Universal Cheer and Dance competition, Jan. 16-18, the mascots had to submit a video that would be judged against other entries. The top 10 entries earn bids to nationals.

Kelsey McMahon, a Spirit Squad member and KU senior, said the team creates the videos each year, and was pleased to learn that the mascot had been selected for the first time. “Every single year, we put hours and hours and lots of sleepless nights into this video,” she said.

The squad’s coach, Cat Jarzemkoski, said the mascot would be joining the cheer and dance squads at the national competition.

She said the competition represented the Final Four for mascots, cheerleaders and dancers. It attracts participants from all over the country.

She said she was pleased that the mascot had made the competition for the first time, having come up one or two spots short in the past. “It says that we have a lot of good, hard-working kids,” Jarzemkoski said.