Sunday, September 13, 2009

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.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

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.