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.