Winner, winner chicken dinner!

I know the tension has been building since I haven't posted in over a month (okay, maybe not, since you can easily see the results of the tournament in the poll on the right of the screen, but whatever).  Anyway, the winner of the SJSU female athlete of the year (according to those shallow few people who visit this blog and vote for who they think is pretty) is. . .

The one and only Kelsi Okuda.  Congratulations to the crew (or friend or cousin or brother or sister or stalker) who launched the campaign to get Kelsi the title!!!  If you have a second to drop a comment, please let us know who you are.  We at SJSU Spartans 4 Life admire your tenacity and are honored that you visit (even if it is you Boner).

And that ends the almost year long competition, and quest to determine the champion.  Congratulations to all of the contestants, and thank you to all of the loyal followers who have been logging on to vote for your favorite athletes.

Now it will be on to more relevant (to some) topics.  Beginning with the football team, who has a Sunday night game on TV tonight, but who have had their struggles so far this year!

And the Finals are Set

With upsets on both sides of the bracket in our semifinal matches, we have our championship match set. In the top half of the bracket, the Kelsi Okuda fan club was out in full force. We had, by far, the most total votes of the year. The fan club (or maybe that one determined fan with multiple log in accounts - Able?) propelled Okuda to a 30-11 win and a spot in the final match. On the other side of the bracket we had our lowest seed still playing pull off an upset over #2 seed Jo Thibodaux. With the 7-4 win, cross country runner Victoria Smith earned the second spot in the final match-up. That also sets up a #1 vs. #2 seed game in the 3rd Place match. Voting for the championship and 3rd place matches will last through next weekend.

In Spartan football news, the squad dropped their second straight game of the season -- their home opener -- with a 24-14 loss to the Utes of Utah (who have the nation's longest current win streak at 16 games). The Spartans will try to put these first two behind them and focus on Stanford as they head to Palo Alto for their next game on Sept. 19.

Into the Semifinals

The first round is complete and the semifinals are now set. Soccer player Shanelle Furner (13 t0 5) and diver Jo Thibodaux (13 to 3), the first and second seed respectively, easily advanced to the semifinals. The other two match-ups were much closer. In the closest match of the 1st round, water polo player Kelsi Okuda edged gymnast Shanice Howard 9 votes to 8 to advance to the semifinals where she will face Shanelle Furner. On the bottom half of the bracket, sixth seeded cross countrier Victoria Smith upset volleyballer Sarah McAtee 1o votes to 7 to also advance to the semis where she will face Jo Thibodaux for a chance to compete in the championship. Voting for the semifinals will last through the week.

In other Spartan news, the football team took an early 3 point lead in the LA Memorial Coliseum against the Trojans of USC, however the tides quickly turned as USC true-freshman starting QB Matt Barkley and USC RBs Joe McKnight and Stafon Johnson settled in and got comfortable. USC rattled off 56 unanswered points and secured the win for their cry baby coach Pete Carroll in his first game since happily and proudly sending off Mark Sanchez to the NFL.

The Stage is Set

The play in matches are complete and our Elite 8 is set. Golfer Shraddhanjali Singh defeated basketballer Aumornai Edinburgh to earn the right to face to Shanelle Furner and tennis player Jennifer Williams defeated softball player Alexandria Galusha to set up a match-up vs. Jo Thibodaux. Opening round match-ups begin today and will last for 3 days. The Elite 8 match-ups are below:

Elite 8 Matches
Vote on the Elite 8 match-ups in the right hand column beginning today.

And for everyone who is tracking the great Mark Reynolds, he hit another HR today to bring his season total to 40!

Game, Set and Match

And the last finalist is. . .

Jennifer Williams with 6 total votes.

Jennifer narrowly defeated Cassandra Borjon (below left - 5 votes) for the title of 2009 best looking SJSU tennis player. Also competing were Sanda Hadzisabic (below middle) and Olivia Marshall (below right). With the win, Jennifer will join our 9 other finalists in the SJSU Tournament of Champions beginning today.

The Tourament of Champions Match-ups are below and voting for the play in matches (of which there are two) will begin today and last for 48 hours. At that time we will launch out voting for the first round matches.

Play In Matches
#8 Seed - Shraddhanjali Singh (Golf) vs. #9 Seed - Aumornai Edinburgh (Basketball)

#7 Seed - Jennifer Williams (Tennis) vs. #10 Seed - Alexandria Gusha (Softball)

Round 1 Matches

#1 Seed - Shanelle Furner (Soccer) vs. Winner of #8 vs #9 play-in match

#4 Seed - Shanice Howard (Gymnastics) vs. #5 Seed - Kelsi Okuda (Water Polo)

#3 Seed - Sarah McAtee (Volleyball) vs. #6 Seed - Victoria Smith (Cross Country)

#2 Seed - Jo Thibodaux (Swimming/Diving) vs. Winner of #7 vs #10 play-in match

Diver or swimmer?

And the winner is. . .

Jo Thibodaux! The 5'9" diver from Alvin, TX took the title of SJSU's most awesome outwardly beautiful swimmer/diver. Thibodaux tallied 4 total votes, which easily gained her the title over Heather Denman (below top left - 0 votes), Erin Garcia (below top right - 1 vote), Ally Jack (below bottom left - 2 votes) and Jessica Holden (below bottom right - 2 votes).

With the win Thibodaux joins an elite group of SJSU athletes who will be competing for the title of 2008-09 best looking SJSU athlete in the coming weeks. The final participant in the hunt for the title will be determined by next Monday in the final poll that is available today. After the voting is complete for the tennis team, we will dive into the final matchups before crowning the champion.

Also, with football practice starting today, don't forget to begin checking back a bit more often to see updates for the Spartan football team as they begin their quest for the 2009-10 WAC title (well, at least maybe we can beat LA Tech this year).

Walk Off Win

The SJSU softball team has just qualified its winner for the most anticipated competition of the year. With five votes, Alexandria Galusha (pic below) joins an elite group of SJSU athletes in the finals for the title of most awesomely, outwardly beautiful female athlete of the 2008-09 season.

Alexandria topped Amanda Pridmore (2 votes - below left), Liz Robertson (2 votes - below middle) and Mallory Blair (1 vote - below right) to earn the softball title.

Out next finalist will come from the SJSU Swimming and Diving team. Please check back shortly and vote for your choice to help us crown the Swimming and Diving winner.

Water Polo Winner!

With football season just around the corner I've decided to resume my Team 4 Life postings a bit more regularly. Plus, I want to get this 2008-09 contest done before all of the associated athletes are dispersed among us working folk and can't really appreciate their accomplishments as the official Team 4 Life Best Looking SJSU athletes.

So, the results from the Water Polo team (that's right, we have a Water Polo team) are as follows:

#1 - Kelsi Okuda (3 votes)

#2 - Natalie Jennings (2 votes)

#3 (t) - Juliet Moss(l) and Katie Buzzetta(r) (1 vote each)














With the win Kelsi Okude will move to the 2008-09 finals, joining the six student-athletes that are already there. They include Shanelle Furner (Soccer), Aumornai Edinburgh (Basketball), Sarah McAtee (Volleyball), Victoria Smith (Cross Country), Shraddhanjali Singh (Golf), and Shanice Howard (Gymnastics). The sports that remain to be determined are softball (next up), swimming and diving, and tennis. Ensure you are checking out the right hand column and voting on your favorite player from the 2009 softball team.

Over a month. . .

. . . but we're back. Steve got me motivated with his posting and I thought it was time to continue our path to the SJSU best looking athlete (before they take all of the 2008-09 pictures down). So, the winner from the gymnastics team was Shanice Howard (below - 3 votes).

Shanice edged Katie Valleau (below left - 2 votes) and Renae "Don't call me a world poker champ" Moneymaker (below right - 2 votes).

In more significant Spartan news, the baseball team had a disappointing 10-9 loss in the WAC tournament to New Mexico State, which eliminated them from the WAC tournament and an automatic bid into the NCAA Regions. They awaited their fate and hoped their prayers for an at large berth would be answered, however, it wasn't to be, and the Spartan baseball team had to call it a year. The Spartans were the WAC regular season champions with a conference record of 15-7. They had a total record of 41-20. Congrats to the baseball team on a great year!

Next up for our path to the finals will be the water polo team. Make sure your vote gets counted!

Teed Off

In a tight vote, another blonde bites the dust! Shraddhanjali Singh (above and circled below - 5 votes) edged Madeleine Ziegert (below left - 4 votes) for the best looking golfer and will advance to the SJSU best looking athlete finals in the coming months. The voting went back and forth with Singh gaining a push the last two days to secure the title. Rounding out the voting was Jody Ho (below right) who garnered two votes which helped swing the contest to Singh.

In other Spartan news, the baseball team has dropped three games in a row, the latest being a heartbreaking 7-6 11-inning loss last night to UC Santa Barbara. Their record currently sits at 24-11. They will have a couple chances to avenge last night's loss as they tangle with UC Santa Barbara two more times this weekend. The good news for the baseball team is they swept the four game Team For Life rivalry series against the lowly Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech last weekend and sent them and their faithful followers home in tears!

No Blondes Allowed?

I apologize as I've been very lazy with my blogging as of late. Now that the cross country poll has been done for a few days, I'm finally getting to posting the results. With seven votes out of 11 total, Victoria Smith (above and circled below) has won the title of the best looking SJSU cross country runner.Smith easily beat out her teammates for the title. The others vying for the crown, Lauren Dubay (below left and boxed above far left - 0 votes), Nisha Richardson (below center and boxed above far right - 2 votes), and Alexa Richter (below right and boxed above center - 2 votes), proved that blondes don't always have more fun as even with the combined total of their votes they couldn't have beaten the brunette running star!

In other SJSU sports news, the baseball team has been on a bit of a cold streak. In their opening WAC series they dropped 3 of 4 games to Hawaii and go into the weekend with a 20-8 overall record, but a disappointing 1-3 in the WAC. They had a big game with their biggest "Team for Life" rival Louisiana Tech postponed today and will attempt to play a double header against the Bulldogs tomorrow. Chad and I are looking forward to a great series!

Next up in our best looking SJSU athlete poll will be the Lady Spartan Golfers! Please keep voting for your favorite SJSU athletes.

McAtee makes Three

With the weekend came the end of our third Lady Spartan poll. After seeing our lowest vote total (10) of the competition, joining Ms. Edinburgh and Ms. Furner in the finals for the title of Best Looking Lady Spartan will be volleyball standout Sarah McAtee (above and circled below).

With 60% 0f the votes, McAtee dominated her teammates. Kelly Crow (below left - 3 votes), Niki Clement (below center - 1 vote) and Nia Freeman (below right - 0 votes) couldn't keep pace with Sarah throughout the week.

With the bulk of voters (the Spartan baseball team) busy on the diamond improving their record to 18-5 on the season, the volleyball team didn't get the push of total votes that other sports have to this point, and allowed McAtee to lead from wire to wire.

Please check back over the next few weeks to partipate in the polls for the remaining Lady Spartan teams (cross country, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis and water polo). Beginning today and running throughout the week will be our cross country poll. Go Spartans!

And our second finalist is. . .

Aumornai Edinburgh (above). After five days of voting and 24 total tallies, the 6'0" forward from Sacramento, CA has won the title of best looking SJSU basketball player.

It was a nail biter as Aumornai barely edged out the other competitors to take the title. She received 7 total votes. Christina Calcagno (below, l, 6 votes), Sayja Sumler (below, c, 6 votes), and Natalie White (below, r, 5 votes) put up a great fight, but some late votes propelled Edinburgh to the title.

With the victory, Aumornai moves into the finals of the best looking female SJSU athlete where she will compete with the winners of the other Lady Spartan sports teams. Currently joining Edinburgh in the finals will be Shanelle Furner, a 5'6" midfielder from the soccer team. Keep visiting the blog to vote for the best looking athlete in each of SJSU's women's sports over the next few weeks. Congratulations to all of our beautiful competitors.

Back on a Roll

The Spartan baseball team is back to their winning ways. Great arms and great sticks combined to dominate Dartmouth 19-0 in San Jose on Friday night to run the Spartans winning streak to 7 straight. With the win the Spartans improve to 16-3 on the season and have supplanted themselves as on of the top teams in the nation so far this year. SJSU started scoring in bunches early and didn't stop until the game was over. They were spurred on by a seven run 2nd inning, which was highlighted by Kyle Bellows' (picture right) first home run of the season, a two out grand slam to straightaway center field. The Spartans finished with 27 hits on the night, which surprisingly isn't even their highest single game hit total this week (they collected 34 total hits in a 31-1 romping of Chicago State on Wednesday night).

On the mound, Max Peterson, the 6'2" left hander from San Diego (picture left) went 6.0 strong innings to improve his season record to 4-0. He struck out five, allowing three singles and no runs.

San Jose State concludes its current six-game homestand this week by hosting Fresno Pacific University on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. at Municipal Stadium.

Tournament Time

While most college fans are eagerly anticipating the start of the NCAA tournament on Thursday, the Spartan men's and women's basketball teams have been busy preparing for a little tourney of their own. After both teams had abrupt exits from their conference tournaments last week they've been slowly re-acclimating themselves with "real" college life. While some teams celebrated St. Patrick's Day with round 1 games in the NIT and CBI, the Spartan Men and Women's basketball teams decided to spend their "Irish" day in a much more college oriented fashion. It was a noon kegger followed by their annual post season beer pong tournament (Spartan Men vs. the Lady Spartans). They may have missed the Dance, but who's the real winner?!?!

As you can see from the photo above, the Lady Spartans put up a valiant effort, but in the end the men's team prevailed when partners Tim Pierce and Robert Owens dominated the ladies team of Christina Calcagno and Sayja Sumler in the championship game, ultimately leading to Christina and Sayja having to slam 3.5 glasses of beer each. The men's win marks the third year in a row that the men's team has defeated the women (guys, guys, guys, guys!!!). In an interview after the championship game, an inebriated Calcagno told us that the lady Spartans have been preoccupied the past few days tracking the results of "the best looking Lady Spartan basketball player" poll and therefore hadn't been training as hard for the tournament as they should have. Oh well, is there really a loser in a beer pong tournament? I didn't think so. Congratulations to both teams on a successful St. Patrick's Day!

In other news, the San Jose State baseball team is back to their winning ways. The Spartans began the year with 9 straight wins and climbed to the #25 national ranking, but dropped three games last week to drop to 9-3 heading into the weekend. With a good weekend and a good start to the week, the team is now on a 3 game win streak and have improved their record to 12-3.

Disclaimer: Any names included in this post are completely fictional and if they happen to be the exact same as someone who actually plays for the San Jose State basketball team(s) it was not done intentionally and does not in anyway implicate any particular individuals

No Hands Please

And the winner is. . .

Shanelle Furner. That's right, after six heated days of voting and 18 total votes, the 5'6" San Carlos, CA native has won the title of best looking SJSU Soccer player.

Shanelle received 50% of the total votes and won handily over Lauren Moniz (5 votes), Angela Santoro (3 votes), and Kelsy Holm (1 vote).

Congratulations Shanelle. With the victory, Shanelle moves into the final round of the best looking female SJSU athlete where she will compete with the winners of the other Lady Spartan sports teams. Keep visiting the blog to vote for the best looking athlete in each of SJSU's women's sports over the next few weeks. For all of our competitors, I want you to know that you are all beautiful and wonderful athletes and we appreciate your participation in our "blog tournaments."